Maria Maksakova Sr. Musical artist

Maria Petrovna Maksakova (Мария Петровна Максакова, née: Sidorova; April 8, 1902, Astrakhan, Russian Empire – August 11, 1974, Moscow, USSR) was a Soviet opera singer (mezzo-soprano), a leading soloist in the Bolshoi Theater (1923-1953), who enjoyed great success in the 1920s and 1930s, in the times often referred to as the Golden Age of the Soviet opera. Maria Maksakova, the three times laureate of the Stalin's Prize (1946, 1949, 1951), was assignated the People's Artist of the USSR in 1971. She is the mother of actress Lyudmila Maksakova and the grandmother of Maria Maksakova, Jr.