Sarajevo Music Academy was founded by the Decision of the National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 20, 1955 as the fourth such higher education institution in the former joint state, and the first established after the World War II. This Decision was published in the official Gazette of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. 12/55, on June 8, 1955. The establishment of the Sarajevo Music Academy preceded a number of favorable prerequisites, such as the establishment of a network of music schools, the founding of the Sarajevo National Theater, Sarajevo Opera House, Symphony Orchestra RTV Sarajevo, the Institute for the study of folklore and the continuity of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra.
At the founding of the Academy, the founders of this institution were:
Milenko Živković, rector of the Academy of Music in Belgrade
Cvjetko Rihtman,[2] director of the Folklore Research Institute in Sarajevo
Miroslav Špiler,[3] professor of the Higher Pedagogical Academy in Sarajevo
Strahinja Dramušić, in front of the Council for Education, Science and Culture of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a scorer
After the formation of the first pedagogical core at the Sarajevo Music Academy the first Rector was elected, prof. Cvetko Rihtman. In the first year of the Academy's work, 42 students were enrolled. Teaching at the Sarajevo Music Academy began on 19 December 1955 in seven sections:
I - Department of Composition and Conducting
II - Department of solo singing
III - Department of Piano
IV - Department of string Instruments
V - Department of wind instruments
VI - Department of Musicology
VII - Theoretical-pedagogical section
The fateful and tragic events that affected the former joint state in the nineties, made the Academy without a large number of teachers and associates, and the building was badly damaged on six occasions. One of the "holes" in the wall between the concert hall and the hallway, was inscribed and preserved the Academy's management, as a symbol of these difficult times. A large number of students left Sarajevo. Out of 45 permanently hired teachers and assistants at the Academy, only fifteen remained. The Academy has lost two-thirds of the collective. The only staff were teachers from other institutions that had been hired from time to time, and the number of students was about 50. Difficulties were also reflected in the organization of the teaching itself and in the absence of a functional work space.
In spite of all that, the training was interrupted only once for a short time, in May 1995, due to a more intensive bombing. Teachers of the instrumental sections often held classes in their own apartments due to the unsuccessful working space, but also the safety. Regardless of the difficult circumstances of life and work, the rest of the Academy has preserved human and professional enthusiasm. Apart from the efforts to preserve the teaching process, the Academy's teachers played a major role in establishing the Orchestra of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, restarting the work of the Sarajevo Philharmonic, and the academic choir "Gaudeamus". Thanks to efforts from then dean, Osman-Faruk Sijarić,[4] significant support and assistance from music academies and conservatories from Vienna, Bern, Graz, Karlsruhe, Madrid, Stockholm, was given and the Sarajevo Music Academy was registered unanonimuosly in the membership of the European Association of Music Conservatories and Academies[5] (European Association of Conservatoires). In the war period, 15 students graduated (BA), 2 graduated (MA) and one doctorate (PhD) was defended at the Academy. With huge difficulty, the Academy accomplished its basic function for almost the last decade of the 20th century.
In more than 62 years of existence and work of the Academy, there graduated over 2700 students, mastered them around 300, and about 30 doctorates were defended. About 300 teachers and associates were taking care about everything. Regardless of the great political, social and any other turbulence that strongly influenced all aspects of existence and work, the Academy had an upward developmental line. Today it is an internationally recognizable artistic and educational institution with developed departments, academic degrees, expressed artistic and scientific activities.[6]
The Academy has over 2,500 graduates, more than 200 Master of Arts and Music Sciences, 20 Doctors of Music Sciences and 5 Doctor of Musical Arts. It also publishes the monthly student music magazine "Music".[51][52]
