The Academy of Music and Dance was founded in 1964, initially as an affiliate of the Bulgarian State Conservatory in Sofia. The idea for an outpost in Plovdiv was put forward by the eminent Bulgarian musician Prof. Assen Diamandiev and was met with enthusiastic support by Prof. Vladimir Avramov and Prof. Alexander Neinski, Rectors of the Bulgarian State Conservatory. In the next eight years the Plovdiv outpost grew substantially and 1972 became an independent institution under the name of Higher Institute of Music and Music Pedagogy. In the same year, degrees in Bulgarian folklore music were introduced into the curriculum, making the Institute the first and only school of higher learning in Bulgaria to offer such degrees. Prof. Assen Diamandiev was appointed as the Institute’s first Rector.Training in Bulgarian folklore choreography was introduced in 1975, but it took twenty years before in 1995 the Institute was formally renamed to Academy of Music and Dance. Visual arts were introduced in the mid-90-ies completing the range of art degrees offered. Prof. Nedyalcho Todorov (1979-83), Prof. Gheorghi Kunev (1983-89, 1997-99) and Prof. Ivan Spassov (1989-96) succeeded Prof. Assen Diamandiev as Rectors. Prof. Anastas Slavchev has been the Academy’s Rector since 1999. Following the political and social changes in 1989, the Academy of Music and Dance was one of the first Bulgarian institutions of higher learning to receive full state accreditation (1998). Since 1964 more than 5 000 students have graduated from the Academy.

The University offers the following programs:

A. Bachelor’s Programs

1. Bachelor’s Degree in Ballet Education
2. Bachelor’s Degree in Bulgarian Folklore Choreography
3. Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Instruments
4. Bachelor’s degree in Folk Instruments / Folk Singing
5. Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts Education
6. Bachelor’s degree in Music Education
7. Bachelor’s degree in Set and Costume Design

B. Five-year Master’s Programs (Bachelor’s + Master’s in one degree)

8. Master’s degree in Folk Ensembles Conducting
9. Master’s degree in Composition
10. Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology

C. One, Two and Two-and-a-half-year Master’s Programs

11. Master’s degree in Ballet Education
12. Master’s degree in Ballet Directing
13. Master’s degree in Bulgarian Folklore Choreography
14. Master’s degree in Folk Ensembles Conducting.
15. Master’s degree in Classical Instruments
16. Master’s degree Folk Instrument / Folk Singing
17. Master’s degree in (classical) Voice
18. Master’s degree in Composition, two and a half years
19. Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology, two years
20. Master’s degree in Visual Arts Education
21. Master’s degree in Music Education
22. Master’s degree in Set and Costume Design
23. Master’s degree in East Orthodox Religious Painting
University website: Academy of Music and Dance Art