Mariya Maksakova

Mariya Maksakova was an opera singer of Bolshoi Theatre, mother of actress Lyudmila Maksakova. She was born Maria Petrovna Sidorova on April 6, 1902, in Astrakhan, Russia. Her father was merchant Petr Sidorov, her mother was a homemaker. Young Maria Maksakova began her musical education as a singer at church choir in Astrakhan. She studied music in St. Petersburg where she was praised by composer Aleksandr Glazunov. In 1922 she married opera singer Max Karlovich Maksakov, whose real name was Maximilian Shvartz, a native of Austria. Her other husband was Yakov Davtyan, a Soviet Ambassador in Poland who was executed by the Soviet KGB under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin in 1938. Stalin attended many performances by Maksakova at the Bolshoi Theatre. The dictator called Maksakova "My Karmen" and the rumor was that Stalin possibly had a relationship with her. In 1940 she gave birth to Lyudmila Maksakova whose father was never identified. Besides a rumored relationship with Stalin, she had a brief relationship with opera singer of Bolshoi Theatre Aleksandr Volkov who was sentenced to death but escaped from execution and emigrated to the USA. During WWII Maksakova was evacuated to the city of Perm, north of Moscow. After the war, she returned to Moscow and resumed her work at Bolshoi Theater. Lyudmila Maksakova was patronized by Stalin and was awarded the State Stalin's Prize twice: in 1946 and in 1951. She also received numerous awards and decorations from the Soviet state and was designated People's Artist of Russia. Maksakova taught singing at the State Institute of Theatrical Arts (GITIS). She died of a heart failure on August 11, 1974, in Moscow, Russia.