MARO AJEMIAN
American pianist (1921 - 1978)

Maro Ajemian, an American pianist, was of Armenian heritage.  Because of this shared heritage, she chose to give the American premiere of Khachaturian's fabulous new piano concerto as a graduate student at the  Juillard School.  She subsequently took the concerto on tour, and gained a reputation as a performer of contemporary music.

During this concert tour, she had the opportunity to meet a number of contemporary composers including Ernst Krenek, John Cage, Henry Cowell, Alan Hovhaness, Lou Harrison, and Gunther Schuller, all eager for her to play their music.  Many premieres of works by these composers followed.  She became a real champion of the work of her contemporaries, also performing often with her sister, the violinist Anahid Ajemian.

The four sonatas for prepared piano by John Cage, philosopher and composer of music, are fabulous pieces and wonderfully, and sensitively, played by Maro Ajemian to whom Cage dedicated the Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano.

Alan Hovhaness, also of Armenian extraction, was a favorite composer.  Ajemian's performances of his music were instrumental in bring him national attention. Three examples of her playing Hovhaness' music are offered below, one of which is of a performance with her sister.

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)

Poems of the Sea (1922)
Five Sketches in Sepia (1923)
Enfantines, 10 pieces for children (1923)