Maro Ajemian was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 pianist. Ajemian's career in contemporary music got its impetus from her Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 heritage; she became known as a contemporary pianist after performing the U.S. premiere of Aram Khachaturian

Aram Khachaturian

Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...

's Piano Concerto, which she chose to play based on the fact that Khachaturian was Armenian.

Ajemian studied at the Juilliard School of Music. On March 14, 1942, she gave the American premiere of Aram Khachaturian

Aram Khachaturian

Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...

's Piano Concerto in D flat

Piano Concerto (Khachaturian)

Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto in D-flat major, Op. 38, was composed in 1936. It was his first work to bring him recognition in the West, and it immediately entered the repertoire of many notable pianists....

 with the Juilliard Graduate Orchestra under Albert Stoessel

Albert Stoessel

Albert Frederic Stoessel was an American composer, violinist and conductor.He was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1894. He studied music at the Berlin Hochschule as a pupil of Emanuel Wirth and Willy Hess...

. She later performed the piece on a cross-country tour. Following her performances of the Piano Concerto, she began meeting contemporary composers, and together with her sister, the violinist Anahid Ajemian

Anahid Ajemian

Anahid Ajemian is an American violinist. Ajemian's career in contemporary music got its impetus from the desire to help young composers of her generation have their compositions performed. Additionally, she enjoyed performing the music of established contemporary performers...

, she became known as a champion of new music, presenting the premieres of many new works by American composers. Among these were John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, Alan Hovhaness

Alan Hovhaness

Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...

, Henry Cowell

Henry Cowell

Henry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...

, Ernst Krenek

Ernst Krenek

Ernst Krenek was an Austrian of Czech origin and, from 1945, American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music...

, Lou Harrison

Lou Harrison

Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...

, and Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...

.
Cage dedicated his Sonatas and Interludes

Sonatas and Interludes

Sonatas and Interludes is a collection of twenty pieces for prepared piano by American avant-garde composer John Cage . It was composed in 1946–1948, shortly after Cage's introduction to Indian philosophy and the teachings of art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, both of which became major...

 to her and she made the first recording of that piece.

Ajemian was particularly fond of the music of Hovhaness (a fellow Armenian American), and co-founded a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

-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

Lou Harrison

Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...

, Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...

, and Olin Downes

Olin Downes

Olin Downes was an American music critic.He studied piano, music theory, and music criticism in New York and Boston, and it was in those two cities that he made his career as a music critic—first with the Boston Post and then with the New York Times...

, and served to launch Hovhaness into the national spotlight.

She died of heart valve

Heart valve

A heart valve normally allows blood flow in only one direction through the heart. The four valves commonly represented in a mammalian heart determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart...

failure at the age of 57.