Boris Papandopulo composer / arranger

Boris Papandopulo (* February 25, 1906 in Honnef; † October 16, 1991 in Zagreb) was a Croatian composer and conductor.

Boris Papandopulo began his musical career as a choral conductor and conductor in Split (1935-1938 and conductor of the Split Opera 1968-1974), conductor and artistic director in Rijeka (1946-1948 and 1953-1959), choral conductor of the Radio Orchestra and Opera in Zagreb (1940-1945), artistic director of the Zagreb Opera (1943-1945), and conductor of the Sarajevo Opera. His more than 400 compositions include stage and orchestral works, chamber music, works for solo instruments, sacred works, works for voice, and choral works. Papandopulo combines elements of Croatian folk music with twelve-tone music and high demands on virtuosity.

Boris Papandopulo occupies a very special place in the musical history of Croatia. The son of Constantine Papandopulos, a baron of Greek origin (whose father was given an entire city by the Russian Tsar Alexander as a reward for quelling uprisings in the Caucasus: Stavropol) and the great Croatian singer Maja Strozzi, he grew up in Zagreb, completed his schooling there and spent almost his entire life exclusively in Croatia. After studying music with Franjo Dugan and the famous music educator and composer Blagoje Bersa, with whom he had lessons in composition, Papandopulo trained as a conductor in Vienna at the New Vienna Conservatory in the master class of Dirk Fock. He is buried in the Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb.