Aleš Razpotnik

Organologist

Old pipe organ instruments have long fascinated Aleš. The first realisation of their historical and cultural value came to him when, in 2013-2014, with the help of organ builder Brane Košir and the Maribor Organ Workshop, he restored the Eisl positive in the branch church of St. Anne in Šemnik. During this time, he attended the Organ School of the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana, where he met Luka Posavec and together they began to formulate a vision of researching old organs from a technical and artistic point of view. He was also motivated by the lack of knowledge of organology in Slovenia, where he felt that he had an opportunity to contribute to raising respect for and protecting the precious organ heritage.

Aleš began his organ studies in 2010 under the organ traineeship of Prof. Jože Trošt and continued his studies in the Organ School of the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana. He has been the organist in his home parish of Izlake since 2012. He is also the choirmaster of the church choir there. In 2016 he was also invited to be an organist in the parishes of Šentlambert and Zagorje ob Savi.

Aleš is also a great lover of choral singing. For more than ten years he has been singing in several choirs, from the Zagorje Octet to the Prosavus Mixed Choir to the St. Nicholas Choir Litija. He was also the artistic director of the Zagorje Octet from 2018 to 2022.

Music is not Aleš’s only field of interest and activity, as he has also studied electrical engineering and computer science. Today, he uses the technical knowledge he has acquired to great advantage in the research, maintenance, and reconstruction of organs, which is where he has focused his career. He has worked with the organ building workshop Orglarstvo Močnik for several years and in 2023 accepted a position as an organ builder with them.

“Think before you take the next step.”
Aleš Razpotnik

In 2022, he became a co-founder of the Organistica project with the goal of bridging knowledge gaps and establishing a professional standard for organology while also preserving the historical organ heritage. This initiative is gaining recognition from both Slovenian and international professional communities.

At Organistica, Aleš plays a leading role in field documentation, where he is responsible for the technical aspect. Smiling and communicative, he always finds the right word at the right moment, which is also welcome in serious situations, where he can adapt and quickly reach a consensus among the participants.

While admiring and respecting the legacy of the old organ masters, Aleš is a great advocate of a thoughtful approach to any intervention in the practice of the instruments. All with the aim to deepen and understand the different aspects of the instrument: from the technical and historical to the musical and artistic. It is therefore committed to bringing together the skills of organologists, organists and organ workshops and to developing good relations between them. This is the formula for success in the valuation and safeguarding of priceless historical instruments, both at home and abroad.

Aleš sees his mission as shaping the development of Slovenian organ culture, as he wants to contribute to raising its level. He also sees an opportunity to encourage younger generations to discover their identity and the foundations of their future in the heritage of our ancestors, and therefore to adopt a respectful attitude towards it.

Biography

Contact

[email protected]
T: +386 51 231 024

Bibliography

Publications in the media

Film scripts and directing