Prof. Dr. Julian Kuyumdzhiev was born on July 20, 1959 in Burgas. He graduated from NUMSI “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” in his hometown in 1978 with a specialty in violin and NMA “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” in Sofia in 1984 majoring in “Musicology”, profile “History of Music”.

In 1994 he specialized in educational technology in Göttingen and Bonn, Germany.

In the period 1998-2001, he was a doctoral student at the Institute for the Study of Arts at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 2002, he defended his dissertation on “The polyphonic liturgy in Bulgarian music (1878 – 1930s)” and was awarded the scientific and educational degree of doctor of musicology and musical art.

From 1984 to 1992, he worked as a teacher of music theory disciplines (history of music and polyphony) at NUMTI “Dobrin Petkov” – Plovdiv. Participates in a team that implements experimental activity in the field of integration between literature, music history and art history and realizes a series of integral lessons. As a result of this activity, the manual “The Ancient Greek Theater as a Synthetic Art” was created (together with the writer Maria Prodanova).

Since 1984, he has been a part-time teacher at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv, since 2005 he has been an associate professor, and since 2013 he has been a professor at the academy.

He also taught at the National School of Music and Performing Arts “Hristina Morfova” in Stara Zagora (2001 – 2005), at the New Bulgarian University (1999 – 2014), at the Theological Faculty of the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” (2011 – 2012).

From 1992 to 1994, he was the chief expert in the “Schools of Arts and Culture” department at the Ministry of Culture. It organizes seminars and conferences for the teachers in these schools, creates a non-profit inspectorate for general educational training in the schools of arts and culture, publishes collections with methodological and scientific developments of teachers.

In the period September 1994 – November 1997, he was the director of the Secondary Music School in Plovdiv, now the National School of Music and Dance Art, which on his initiative in 1995 was named after the great Bulgarian musician Dobrin Petkov. Created and organized the First National Competition for Violinists “Dobrin Petkov” (1995) and the First National Competition for French Music (1997).

Organized tours of the school’s Chamber Orchestra in Norway (1995), Macedonia (1995), Germany (1996), Belgium (1996) and Greece (1997). On his idea, a concert of the school’s Chamber Orchestra was held in the National Assembly on the occasion of the National Day of Bulgaria (on March 2, 1997) and concerts with the world-famous musicians Mincho Minchev, Stoika Milanova, Petko Radev, with the chamber chapel “Polyphony”.

Commissioned by Julian Kuyumdzhiev, the great Bulgarian composer Ivan Spasov created “Miserere” for two sopranos, female choir and chamber orchestra, which premiered with the participation of the school’s Chamber Orchestra (January 1996), and in April 1996 the work was performed in NDK and broadcast directly on Channel 1 of BNT.

He is the author of the film “While my heart beats…”, dedicated to the longtime teacher at the school and its donor Nena Mikhlyuzova, broadcast on Channel 1 of BNT in February 1998.

In 1998 and 1999, he was a coordinator and consultant at the “Raina Kabaivanska” foundation and worked personally with the world-famous Bulgarian singer.

In the period 2011-2017, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Union of Bulgarian Composers and chairman of the “Musicologists” section, and since 2016 – chairman of the Bulgarian section of the International Musicological Society.

He has been the vice-chairman of the Union of Bulgarian Music and Dance Artists since 2015.

In the period 2009-2014, he was the artistic secretary of the International Chamber Music Festival in Plovdiv.

From June 2008 to December 2011, he was the chairman of the General Assembly of the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv, and from December 2011 to January 2016, he was the vice-rector of the academy for educational activities and accreditation (and from 2014 d. and on scientific activity).

He is the chairman of the National Commission of the National Competition “The Key of Music”, organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)

Prof. Dr. Julian Kuyumdzhiev has published over 80 scientific articles in various specialized periodicals and scientific collections in Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, including in the German encyclopedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

He is the author of:

“The polyphonic liturgy in Bulgarian music” (2003)
“An attempt at a new look at Hristo Manolov” (2005)
“What is the real Bulgarian church singing?” (2011)
“Cultural-historical aspects of the discussion about real Bulgarian church singing” (2013)

Co-author of:

“The Ancient Greek Theater as a Synthetic Art” (1997)
“Asen Diamandiev” (2000)
German-Bulgarian musical dictionary (2001)
Glossary of Italian Musical Terms (2008)
He is the author and editor of a number of scientific collections and books.

Since 1999, he has been the editor-in-chief of the specialized magazine for music and dance “Musical Horizons”, a publication of SBMTD. In recent years, the magazine received three prestigious awards – “Crystal Lira” (2012), “Golden Feather” of Classic FM Radio (2016) and Plaque of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists (2016).

He is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists. As a music critic and publicist, he has over 300 publications in “Musical Life”, “Bulgarian Music”, “Musical Horizons”[4], “Music Viva”, “Bulgarian Music Chronicles”, “Guitar”, “Culture”, “Literary Forum “, “Century 21”, “Democracy” and other periodicals.

Awards

UBC Book of the Year (2001, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2015)
Crystal Lyre (2003)
The Golden Five (2005)
AMTII’s “Honey Pot” (2008)
“Golden Lira” of SBMTD (2009)
The Golden Muse (2012)
Badge of Honor “50 Years International Chamber Music Festival” (2014)
SBMTD’s “Crystal Necklace” (2014)
Badge of Honor of the UBJ (2015)
National Representation of Student Councils Special Award “Bearers of Enlightenment” (2017)