Maria Petrovna Maksakova (, née: Sidorova; April 8, 1902 – August 11, 1974) was a Soviet
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...
singer,
mezzo-soprano, a leading soloist in the
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and op ...
(1923–1953), who enjoyed great success in the 1920s and 1930s, in the times often referred to as the golden age of Soviet opera. Maria Maksakova, the three times laureate of the
Stalin Prize (1946, 1949, 1951), was designated as a
People's Artist of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union.
Nomenclature and significa ...
in 1971. The actress
Lyudmila Maksakova
Lyudmila Vasilyevna Maksakova (russian: Людмила Васильевна Максакова; born 26 September 1940) is a Soviet Russian stage and film actress who appeared in 24 films between 1965 and 1998. Honoured with the People's Artist ...
is her daughter; singer and TV presenter
Maria Maksakova Jr.
Maria Petrovna Maksakova Jr. (russian: link=no, Мария Петровна Максакова-младшая; born 24 July 1977) is a German-born Russian opera singer, a guest soloist with Bolshoi Theater (since 2003), soloist with Moscow's H ...
her granddaughter.
Biography
Maria Sidorova was born in
Astrakhan
Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of ...
, one of six children of Pyotr Sidorov, the executive director of the Volga Shipping company.
After her father's death, ten-year-old Maria joined a local church choir to help her 27-year-old mother sustain a family.
It was there that her vocal abilities were first noticed. Sidorova engaged herself in intensive self-education and a year later became a l