About Prof. Kirilov

I am a Professor of Music Theory at Towson University, Maryland. I joined the Towson faculty in 2009. I have taught previously at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Oregon. I received my BA from the Academy of Music and Dance in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 1994. In 2001, I came to the US to continue my education. I obtained an interdisciplinary MA in Folklore from the University of Oregon in 2003 and a PhD in Music Theory from the University of Oregon in 2007.

My scholarly research explores the boundaries between two often compartmentalized fields, music theory and ethnomusicology, and my innovative analytical approaches to Eastern European music have been well-received at national and international conferences. My recent articles appear in MUSICultures (Canada) and Analyse Musicale (France). My book, "Bulgarian Harmony" was published in Ashgate’s SOAS Musicology Series in the fall of 2015. “Bulgarian Harmony” is the first analytical study of 20th century Bulgarian harmonized repertoires tracing unique harmonic developments in Bulgarian village music, wedding music, and polyphonic choral arrangements performed by Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares.

I have performed extensively in Bulgaria, Western Europe, and the United States. In 2003 and 2005, I toured the United States with Ivo Papazov, recipient of the 2005 BBC audience award in the “world music” category. In addition to being a teacher, scholar, and active performer, I was one of the main organizers of the international conferences Analytical Approaches to World Music (AAWM 2010, AAWM 2012, and AAWM 2014). The AAWM conferences are establishing a new academic field, World Music Analysis, by focusing on repertoires beyond the standard Western Art Music.

I started playing the accordion at the age of 5. A year later I began learning Bulgarian tambura which became my primary instrument until I relocated to the US. While a high school student, I began playing the guitar and studying the Bulgarian wedding style accompaniment.