Jānis Šipkēvics is a singer, songwriter and audio producer. He co-founded the group Instrumenti which has released four albums and received twelve awards at the annual music record awards, Zelta mikrofons. Šipkēvics is the creator of the experimental music project Shipsea which is a collaboration with kokle player Laima Jansone, guitarists Matīss Čudars and Miķelis Putniņš, singer Evija Vēbere, drummer Rūdolfs Dankfelds and others.
Šipkēvics was a member and co-founder of the a capella group Cosmos. The group released seven albums, received the music award, Lielā mūzikas balva, and six Zelta mikrofoni awards. Cosmos has performed at festivals in the US, Europe and Japan. As a solo performer Šipkēvics has toured the US, France, Russia, the UK, Scandinavia and Germany. He has collaborated with Nico Muhly, Valgeir Sigurðsson and Greenhouse Studios in Iceland. He has opened for Björk, Whale Watching tour, and Depeche Mode, collaborated with Gidon Kremer and the orchestra Kremerata Baltica and sang at Marina Abramović's seven day performance The Cleaner at the Modern Art Museum in Stockholm in 2017. Compositions by Šipkēvics have been performed at, among others, the International Sacred Music Festival, at the Valmiera Theatre Festival, the Latvian Pavilion ARMPIT 56 at the Venice Art Biennale, the performance Aspazija. Personīgi at the Riga New Theatre and at the festival LNSO vasarnīca. He is one of the creators of the weekly radio programme Tīrkultūra, he produces records at the Tru Music Studio and organises concerts.
Šipkēvics graduated the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in 2004, and prior to this studied at the Riga Cathedral Choir School. He took a master class in baroque singing at the Austria Barock Akademie with countertenors Andreas Scholl and Kai Wessel, and also at the Stuttgart Bach Academy with conductors Helmuth Rilling and Roger Norrington.