Maro Ajemian
Maro Ajemian | |
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Maro Ajemian in late 1950s | |
Background information | |
Born | July 9, 1921 |
Died | September 18, 1978 |
Genres | Classical |
Occupation | Performer |
Instrument | Piano |
Maro Ajemian (July 9, 1921 – September 18, 1978) was an American pianist. Ajemian's career in contemporary music grew from her Armenian heritage. She became known as a contemporary pianist after performing the U.S. premiere of Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto, which she chose to play based on their shared Armenian heritage.[1]
Ajemian studied at the Juilliard School of Music. On March 14, 1942, she gave the American premiere of Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto in D flat with the Juilliard Graduate Orchestra under Albert Stoessel.[2] She later performed the piece on a cross-country tour. Following her performances of the Piano Concerto, Ajemian began meeting contemporary composers and, together with her sister, the violinist Anahid Ajemian, she became known as a champion of new music, presenting the premieres of many new works by American composers.[1] Among these were John Cage, Alan Hovhaness, Henry Cowell, Ernst Krenek, Lou Harrison, and Gunther Schuller. Cage dedicated his Sonatas and Interludes to her and she made the first recording of them for Dial Records in 1951.[3]
Ajemian was particularly fond of the music of Hovhaness, a fellow Armenian American, and co-founded a New York City-based organization, the Friends of Armenian Music Committee, which promoted his music during the 1940s, presenting annual concerts in such high-profile venues as Town Hall. These concerts were well reviewed by such critics as Lou Harrison, Virgil Thomson, and Olin Downes, and served to launch Hovhaness into the national spotlight.
She died of heart valve failure at the age of 57.[4]
References
- ^ a b "TIME – The Armenian Sisters". Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved Feb 26, 2021.
- ^ Liner notes to the Moura Lympany/Anatole Fistoulari recording, Everest 3303
- ^ Iddon, Martin (14 November 2019). John Cage and Peter Yates: Correspondence on Music Criticism and Aesthetics. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-108-48006-2.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (1 July 2016). "Anahid Ajemian, Violinist and New-Music Champion, Dies at 92". The New York Times.
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- WGBH (FM) (1951)
- Maro and Anahid Ajemian (1952)
- Herman Neuman (1953)
- Green Bay Symphonietta (1954)
- George Szell (1955)
- Robert Whitney (1956)
- Howard Hanson / Juilliard String Quartet (1957)
- Thor Johnson (1958)
- Martha Graham / Jack Benny (1959)
- Howard Mitchell / Oliver Daniel (1960)
- Helen Thompson / William Strickland (1961)
- Bethany Beardslee / Hugh Ross / Samuel Rosenbaum (1962)
- Carl Haverlin / Claire Reis (1963)
- Walter Hinrichsen / Margaret L. Crofts / Max Pollikoff (1964)
- Henry Cowell / Avery Claflin / Elizabeth Ames (1965)
- Henry A. Moe / Lawrence Morton (1966)
- WBAI / Fromm Foundation (1967)
- Aaron Copland (1968)
- Group for Contemporary Music (1969)
- Otto Luening / Harris Danziger / Third Street Music Settlement School (1970)
- Alice M. Ditson Fund (1971)
- Leopold Stokowski (1972)
- MacDowell Colony (1973)
- Teresa Sterne (1974)
- Nelson Rockefeller (1975)
- Gunther Schuller (1976)
- Arthur Weisberg (1977)
- James Dixon (1978)
- Ralph Shapey (1979)
- John Duffy / Meet the Composer / Joseph Machlis (1980)
- Carter Harman (1981)
- Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music (1982)
- Lukas Foss (1983)
- Opus One / Max Schubel / Ernest S. Heller (1984)
- Nicolas Slonimsky (1985)
- Raymond Des Roches (1986)
- Francis Thorne (1987)
- American Music Center (1988)
- Betty Allen / The Harlem School of the Arts / Mimi Stern-Wolfe (1989)
- Center for New Music (1990)
- Boston Musica Viva (1991)
- Cleveland Chamber Symphony (1992)
- Leonard Slatkin (1993)
- Society for New Music (1994)
- Minnesota Composers Forum (1995)
- Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group (1996)
- Speculum Musicae (1997)
- David Alan Miller (1998)
- Lou Rodgers (1999)
- Gregg Smith Singers (2003)
- Fred Sherry (2007)
- Harold Rosenbaum (2008)
- Phyllis Bryn-Julson (2009)
- innova Recordings (2012)
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