[5] Maria spent her childhood at the village of Snegiri, outside Moscow, where Bolshoi Theatre soloists and many famous musicians had their summer dachas.

[6] In 1995, she graduated from the School with honours and at the age of fifteen decided to embark upon the career of a singer, joining the Russian Gnesin Academy of Music, the class of professor Margarita Miglau, a former Bolshoi Theatre soloist.

The same year, Evgeny Kolobov invited her to the Moscow Novaya Opera Theatre where (2000–2006) she sang Ophelia (Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas), Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden by Rimsky-Korsakov), Linda di Chamounix (Bravissimo, Gaetano Donizetti divertimento), Kseniya (Boris Godunov by Musorgsky), Zinaida (First Love by Andrei Golovin), and Leila (Les Pecheurs de Perles by Georges Bizet), among others.

[2] In 2003 she joined the Bolshoi as a guest soloist, appearing as Oscar (Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi) and Musetta (La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini).

[2] In 2011, Maksakova joined the Mariinsky Opera Company where she sings Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Frugola (Il tabarro), The Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos), Nicklausse (The Tales of Hoffmann), and Eboli (Don Carlos).

[9][10] Already in 2018, they presented the Queen of Spades concert programme at the Odesa Philharmonic[11][12][13] and at the Mykola Lysenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kharkiv.

[19][20] After originally voting for the Russian LGBT propaganda law in June 2013, Maksakova criticized it in a speech in the Duma in December 2013.

[22] In October 2016 (before the end of their parliamentary mandate), Maksakova and her husband and fellow Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov went into exile in Ukraine.

[25] Maksakova married former fellow Russian MP Denis Voronenkov (who also had two children from a previous relationship) in March 2015.