Choral Conducting
Period of study: 5 academic years, full time.
A total of 300 credits is required, i.e. 60 credits for each year of full-time study. They are accumulated from the compulsory (70%), elective (20%) and optional (10%) subjects. By decision of the department in which the students are taking their majors, they can acquire 10 additional credits for remarkable achievements in the sphere of musical art and study.
Courses of study:
Compulsory: Conducting a choir from a piano score; Conducting at choral workshop; Solfeggio; Harmony; History of music; History of Bulgarian music; Ethnomusicology; Piano; Study of musical instruments; Foreign language; Polyphony; Symphonic orchestration; Score reading; Musical analysis; Musical aesthetics
Elective: Pedagogy; Philosophy; Choral workshop; Conducting a choir from a piano score; Choral studies; Music psychology; Voice training; Educational psychology; Orchestration for wind ensemble; Choir repertoire and literature; Critical analysis of concert performances; Basics of multimedia; Musical acoustics; Music management; Church music; Methods of piano teaching; History of jazz; Improvisation; Opera dramaturgy; Ethics; Philosophy of music
Optional: Foreign languages – 1 and 2; Sports; History of art
Professional qualifications of the graduates:
– To conduct choral, cantata-and-oratorio, ensemble and chamber works for the stage, choirs in opera operetta and musical theatres; music for cinema- and TV productions; radio and TV shows, dramatic, puppet and other performances, choreographic and dance performances;
– To train students in the sphere of choral art;
– To manage the organization and functioning of choral ensembles;
– To do research work in the field of choral art;
Career opportunities: in philharmonic orchestras, opera, operetta, puppet and other theaters; in professional and amateur ensembles and various formations; in music education institutes, community centers and cultural clubs in film and broadcasting recording studios and editorial offices, taking positions like choral conductor, artistic director, lecturer, editor and expert in methods of conducting.