The name of Maria Kalamkarian was well known to music lovers — listeners of radio broadcasts in several European countries from the mid-30s to the 70s of the XX century. She gave piano recitals, and performed in chamber concerts and as a soloist in symphony concerts.
An excellent pianist, and at the same time a deep, searching, temperamental, thoughtful musician, she led a wide artistic activity, in which enlightenment occupied a worthy place: performing unknown, undeservedly forgotten pieces of ancient music, boldly promoting the works of contemporary composers of various national schools, including Armenian.
Maria Kalamkarian spent her childhood and youth in the Caucasus, the last 60 years — in Germany, which became her second home. She was lucky to be in close contact with the great musicians Ferruccio Busoni and Feodor Chaliapin, and to study with the famous Austrian teacher Gottfried Galston.
An indelible mark in her grateful memory was left by close friendships with prominent figures of Armenian and Russian culture. In Tiflis (Tbilisi), these were famous composers, pianists, and musicologists Nikolai Tcherepnin, and Kristofor Kushnarev, from whom she took private lessons. M.V. Vinogradov, Vasily Korganov (Ghorghanyan). Arshak Adamyan and many others, about whom she retained the most vivid memories. Meetings with Aram Khachaturian in Brussels were also unforgettable.
A native of Tiflis (Tbilisi), Maria Kalamkarian came from the family of the princes
Argutinsky-Dolgorukov. Maria Kalamkarian’s mother was a member of the well-known family of Akhverdovs in Tiflis (she died of cholera in 1918). Formerly a student of the famous pianist Felix Blumenfeld, she taught young Maria to play the piano. Further studies took place at a music school and a conservatory. In 1921, having brilliantly graduated from the Tiflis (Tbilisi) Conservatory, Maria went to improve herself in Berlin, the largest musical center in Western Europe.
In the very first years of her life in Berlin, a significant meeting for her with Ferruccio Busoni takes place. The Germans call him the great thinker from musical Italy.
In Berlin, later in time, another significant meeting of Kalamkarian takes place: she participates in the concerts of the great Russian singer and artist Feodor Chaliapin, not only as an accompanist but also as a soloist. In connection with this fact, it is appropriate to recall the names of famous musicians who in different years performed in an ensemble with the famous singer. They were Sergei Rachmaninoff, Felix Blumenfeld, Mikhail Bikhter, Feodor Koenemann and others.
From this, it is clear that Feodor Chaliapin’s proposal to perform with him and the next two years of joint work with the singer can be regarded as a special recognition of the personal and musical merits of Kalamkarian. Creative communication with the genius of the Russian opera stage gave the young pianist a lot, especially in the field of mastery and pianism.
For two years, together with Feodor Chaliapin, the pianist gave concerts in many countries of Western Europe. The death of the singer prevented their big concert tour of the cities of America.
The archive left after the pianist, as Shushanik Apoyan was known, contained rare books, valuable sheet music, a rich epistolary, as well as the most interesting photographs of the pianist (with Galston, Chaliapin, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth of Belgium with a dedication, etc.). Unfortunately, the fate of the archive is unknown.
Kalamkarian’s musical and performing activities took place in Germany, Italy, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium.
Paying tribute to the performance of well-known works of the classical and romantic style, the pianist had a particular fondness for never-performed or rarely-performed compositions. She found them in museums, and old libraries in Berlin and other German cities, as well as in Bologna, Seville.
Modern piano music was widely represented in the programs. There were also Béla Bartók, the Italians Gian Francesco Malipiero, Luigi Dallapiccola, and Ferruccio Busoni, deeply revered by her.
In different cities, she performed her favorite work — Aram Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto in D-flat major. Together with the famous Dutch conductor Willem van Otterloo, Kalamkarian for the first time in European cities played the «Concertino for Piano and Orchestra» by Alexander Arutiunian, as well as the «Capriccio» by Arno Babajanyan, the piano pieces by Grigor Yeghiazaryan. Next in line were Edvard Baghdasaryan’s Preludes and Arno Babajanyan’s «Polyphonic Sonata».
Of her concert cycles, Kalamkarian especially liked to perform works of the Johann Sebastian Bach. She loved the music of the great composer since childhood. Over the years, perhaps under the influence of Ferruccio Busoni, this feeling deepened and spread to the music of all representatives of the dynasty, and then to other works of early music.
Maria Kalamkarian died in 1985 at the age of 82.