Timea Kalmar was born in Subotica in 1975, where she completed elementary and high school at the music school under the guidance of Professor Mirko Molnar. She graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad in 1999, studying under Professor Ištván Varga. Kalmar earned her master's degree in chamber music under the mentorship of Professor Ladislav Mezei at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade in 2005. Later, she also obtained a master's degree in cello at the Faculty of Arts in Niš, studying under Professor Anatoliy Krastev (Bulgaria) in 2008.
Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, pursuing chamber music with her main ensemble under the mentorship of Professor Ištván Varga from Budapest.
In 1997, along with her colleagues Aleksandra Krčmar Ćulibrk (violin), Jovanka Mazalica (violin), and Jelena Filipović (viola), she founded the string quartet TAJJ. This ensemble, working in its original lineup since its inception, has evolved into one of the leading chamber ensembles in the region.
Timea Kalmar has served as the leader of the cello group in various orchestras, including Vojvodina Philharmonic, Subotica Philharmonic, Subotica Chamber Orchestra, Sarajevo Opera, Sarajevo Philharmonic, International String Orchestra (based in Slovenia), Camerata Academica, Novi Sad Soloists, Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, NOMUS Festival Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of the Serbian National Theatre, Zrenjanin Chamber Orchestra, Zrenjanin Philharmonic, Subotica Symphonics, KotorArt Festival Orchestra, and more.
In addition to her performance career, Kalmar has been actively involved in organizing musical events. She worked as an assistant at the "Ad libitum" Music Workshop from 2008 to 2012 and served as the artistic manager of the KotorArt Festival Orchestra (Montenegro) from 2007 to 2013 and as its manager from 2017 to 2019. She has also collaborated with NOMUS, organizing the Festival Orchestra in 2012, 2015, and 2016. Kalmar has demonstrated her organizational and communication skills as the manager of the TAJJ string quartet since 1997.
In the field of education, Timea Kalmar has been a music teacher since 1996, initially at the "Isidor Bajić" Music School in Novi Sad (teaching cello and chamber music until 2001). From 2001 to the present, she has been teaching at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, initially as an assistant for the string quartet and, from 2008, as a professor for chamber music. She attained the title of full professor in 2018. Over the past fifteen years, her students have participated in over a hundred concerts and have won dozens of awards in competitions.
Both in her performing and educational career, Timea Kalmar pays special attention to contemporary art music and newly composed and premiered works.