[1] Born to Jewish immigrant parents from Austria,[2] Kalmar began violin studies at age six.

At age fifteen, he enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music where his conducting teacher was Karl Österreicher.

Kalmar has been music director of the Hamburger Symphoniker (1987–91), the Stuttgart Philharmonic (1991–95), and the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau.

[3][4][5] In May 2021, the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) announced the appointment of Kalmar as its next director of orchestral studies, effective 1 July 2021.

[9] Kalmar currently lives with his second wife, Raffaela, a violinist and nurse, and their two sons, Luca and Claudio, in Shaker Heights, Ohio.