Maria Matshkalyan

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2001. Since 2023, she studies at the Reina Sofía School of Music’s Telefónica Violin Chair with professor Marco Rizzi. She has been granted scholarships by Fundación Juan Entrecanales de Azcárate and Fundación Albéniz.

She started playing violin at the age of 7. She later entered the Zagreb Academy of Music (Croatia) with professor Leonid Sorokow (within the Erasmus+ programme) and the Ereván Komitas State Conservatory with professor Karen Shahgaldyan. She has also attended masterclasses by Hrachya Harutyunian, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Sergei Dogadin, Fedor Rudin, Sergej Krylov, and Miriam Fried, among others.

Winner of multiple awards in national competitions, in 2022 she was awarded the 4th prize at the Marine Iashvili International Competition for String Instruments in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Not only has she performed concerts and recitals in her home country, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Croatia, but she has also been part of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, and the Tbilisi National Symphony Orchestra and she has participated in the Independency Orchestra project and the New Names young musicians international festival.

As a student of the School, she has performed with the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Péter Csaba. She is currently part of the Dvořák Quartet.