Berislav Šipuš (born 14 May 1958) is a
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
n composer, conductor and music educator who served as 9th
Minister of Culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...
from 24 April 2015 until 22 January 2016 in the
Cabinet of Zoran Milanović.
Personal life and education
Berislav Šipuš was born in Zagreb on May 14, 1956. Along with studying art history at the
Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences he graduated in composition in 1987 at the
Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of professor
Stanko Horvat. He attended gained music education under professors Gilbert Bosco from
Udine
Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...
,
François-Bernard Mâche and
Iannis Xenakis from
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.
Šipuš got additional education in conducting from
Vladimir Kranjčević,
Željko Brkanović,
Kresimir Sipusch and
Milan Horvat.
Career
From 1979 until 1982 he was working as accompanist at the Ballet section of the
Croatian National Theater in Zagreb, from 1987 until 1989 as a music theory lecturer at the Elly Bašić Music School in Zagreb, from 1988 until 1989 the accompanist in Bermuda Civic Ballet, and in 1989 producer in the
Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall. In year 1989, he began his cooperation with the
Teatro alla Scala
La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...
in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, Italy, where he worked as accompanist at the Ballet section (1989–1999), a conductor in the ballet productions (1997–1999) and accompanist and assistant conductor in the theater Opera section (1999–2001). At the same time, Šipuš was active in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, particularly at the
Zagreb Academy of Music, where he worked as the lecturer of musical theory (1988–1989), Assistant Professor at the Department of Composition and Music Theory (since 1998), associate professor (since 2005) and full-time professor (since 2009). He was also a producer in years 1987 and 1989, as well as artistic director of
Music Biennale Zagreb
Music Biennale Zagreb (, MBZ) is an international festival of contemporary classical music, contemporary music in Zagreb, Croatia, organized by the Croatian Composers' Society. The wikt:biennale, Biennale, founded by Milko Kelemen and held every s ...
(1997–2011).
From 2001 until 2005, Šipuš served as a Director of the
Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and artistic director of the Cantus Ansambl. Since 2012, he is honorary artistic director of Cantus Ansambl. Since 2007, Šipuš is leader and chief conductor of the
Croatian Chamber Orchestra. After the death of Daniel Marušič in 2009, Šipuš served as artistic director of the
Osor Music Evenings until 2011. In addition, he was also a president of the Croatian Musical Youth association.
After centre-left
Kukuriku coalition won
2011 parliamentary election, Šipuš was named Assistant Minister in the
Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to:
* Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania)
* Ministry of Culture (Algeria)
* Ministry of Culture (Argentina)
* Minister for the Arts (Australia)
* Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...
with Minister being professor
Andrea Zlatar-Violić. After Zlatar-Violić resigned in March 2015,
Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats
The Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats ( or HNS) is a social- liberal political party in Croatia.
In the 11th Sabor, since 2024, a single HNS representative forms a parliamentary club together with two independent representatives. HN ...
decided to propose Šipuš as new Minister. He was approved by the
Croatian Parliament
The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...
on April 24, 2015, thus becoming 9th Croatian Minister of Culture.
Berislav Šipuš is an Associate member of the
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia.
HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...
(Department of Music and Musicology), since May 10, 2012.
Awards and honors
*1985 – Rector's Award of the
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...
*1985 – First and third prize at the 15th International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
*1985 – National Yugoslav awarded of Seven Secretaries of SKOJ
*1987 – Award of the
Music Biennale Zagreb
Music Biennale Zagreb (, MBZ) is an international festival of contemporary classical music, contemporary music in Zagreb, Croatia, organized by the Croatian Composers' Society. The wikt:biennale, Biennale, founded by Milko Kelemen and held every s ...
*1988 – Award of the
Croatian Music Institute
*1995 –
Vjesnik
''Vjesnik'' () was a Croatian state-owned daily newspaper published in Zagreb. Originally established in 1940 as a wartime illegal publication of the Communist Party of Croatia, it later built and maintained a reputation as Croatia's newspaper ...
's Josip Slavenski Award
*2002 – Boris Papandopulo Award of the
Croatian Composers' Society
*2004 –
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...
by the
Ministry of Culture of France
*2009 –
Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Marko Marulić
*2009 –
Vladimir Nazor Award
The Vladimir Nazor Award () is a Croatian prize for arts and culture established in 1959, and awarded every year by the country's Ministry of Culture.
Named after the writer Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), the prize is awarded to Croatian artists ...
for ballet ''Process''
*2009 – Boris Papandopulo Award of the Croatian Composers Society
*2014 – Medal of the President of the Republic of Italy, the Order of Star of Italy and the title of Commendatore
List of works
See
HDS ZAMP: Berislav Šipuš (list of works)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sipus, Berislav
1958 births
Croatian composers
Croatian music educators
Living people
Musicians from Zagreb
University of Zagreb alumni
Croatian male classical composers
Croatian male conductors (music)
20th-century Croatian classical composers
20th-century male composers
20th-century Croatian conductors (music)
21st-century classical composers
21st-century conductors (music)
Culture ministers of Croatia
20th-century male musicians
21st-century male musicians