Maria Maksakova, Jr.

Maksakova was born in Munich, a daughter of the Soviet actress Lyudmila Maksakova and the Prague-born German businessman Peter Igenbergs, a son of Latvian Baltic German emigres. Maria spent her childhood at the village of Snegiri, outside Moscow, where Bolshoi Theatre soloists and many famous musicians had their summer dachas. She began studying music from the age of three and aged six enrolled at the piano department of the Moscow Conservatory's Central Music School where her teacher was the famous opera singer Natalia Schpiller. As a student, she went to Italy to study under Katya Ricciarelli and, on completing her studies there, made her debut at the Parma Opera House. Her other tutors were Mivako Matsumoto, Gianfranco Pastine and Zurab Sotkilava. With the latter, Maria toured Ukraine and Russia. In 1995, she graduated from the School with honours and at the age of fifteen decided to embark upon the career of a singer, joining the Russian Gnesin Academy of Music, the class of professor Margarita Miglau, a former Bolshoi Theatre soloist. In 1996, she enrolled into the Moscow State Law Academy which she graduated in 2002.

In 2000, Maria Maksakova took part in the Moscow Opera Festival and won the Best Debut prize for her interpretation of the part of Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The same year, Evgeny Kolobov invited her to the Moscow Novaya Opera Theatre where (2000–2006) she sang Ophelia (Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas), Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden by Rimsky-Korsakov), Linda di Chamounix (Bravissimo, Gaetano Donizetti divertimento), Kseniya (Boris Godunov by Musorgsky), Zinaida (First Love by Andrei Golovin), and Leila (Les Pecheurs de Perles by Georges Bizet), among others.

In 2002, Maksakova was among the Yelena Obraztsova Young opera singers competition's winners and a year later she joined the Bolshoi as a guest soloist, appearing as Oscar (Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi) and Musetta (La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini). In 2006, she joined the Moscow Helikon-Opera and there appeared as The Princess in Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka, Rosina in II Barbiere di Siviglia, Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and others.

In 2011, Maksakova joined the Mariinsky Opera Company where she sings Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Frugola (Il tabarro), The Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos), Nicklausse (The Tales of Hoffmann), and Eboli (Don Carlos).

Maksakova is a TV presenter, co-host (from January 2010, alongside Svyatoslav Belza) of the Romantika Romansa series on the Russian Kultura TV. She appeared in several films (including The Barber of Siberia by Nikita Mikhalkov), and worked as a model. In 2002, Lancôme selected her for their projects in Russia.

Since 2017, Maria Maksakova has been collaborating with Ukrainian pop singer and owner of a unique countertenor Alex Luna. The artists first performed their duet in Kyiv at the Vienna Ball. Already in 2018, they presented the Queen of Spades concert programme at the Odesa Philharmonic and at the Mykola Lysenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kharkiv.

Maksakova took part in international projects. She sang a recital in Musikverein (Vienna), and she sang concerts in Helsinki and Tokyo.

In 2021, Ukrainian journalist Kostyantyn Doroshenko published the book Aria of Mary, a biography of Maria Maksakova.