After completing his secondary music education in Ljubljana (where he specialized in piano, flute, and solo singing), Andraž Hauptman majored in conducting and piano performance at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana. While he was a student, he already took charge of the Primorska Academic Choir Vinko Vodopivec and became an accompanist and solo singer in Ljubljana’s APZ Tone Tomšič.
With Chamber Choir Ave, which he founded in 1984, he was awarded top prizes at international festivals and elite choir competitions in Maribor (1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2016), Gorizia (1992, 1996), Tours (1993, 1997), Maasmechelen (1993), Tolosa (1994), Johannesburg (1995), Athens (1996), Montreux (1998), Rodos (1999), Marktoberdorf (1999), Mendoza (2000), Tallinn (2001) and Vienna (2004). For his artistic work with Chamber Choir Ave, besides the many prizes won at competitions and festivals, he received the Ljubljana Capital City Award and the Gallus Award, the highest accolade bestowed by the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia.
Andraž Hauptman lectures at choral conducting seminars in Slovenia and abroad, and is a frequent jury member at national and international choir competitions. He is senior associate expert at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana.
Andraž Hauptman has collaborated with Chamber Choir Orfej since 2010. He first worked with the choir occasionally, as an advisor, before becoming the choir’s permanent conductor in 2017. At the 2016 national choir competition Naša pesem he received the award for best programme selection and led Chamber Choir Orfej to a golden plaque, the third prize, and the special award for best performance of a contemporary Slovenian piece composed after 1995.
Under his leadership, Orfej won third place at the 2018 international choir competition in Tours, a qualifying contest for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing. The latest outstanding result he achieved with Orfej was in July 2019, when the choir won third place at the international choir competition in Spittal, Austria.
For more than a decade, he has been selflessly sharing his expertise in several choirs. He acts as répétiteur and assistant conductor to Andraž Hauptman, he sings in Chamber Choir Orfej, and he is the artistic director of the Cven-Pristava Mixed Choir and the vocal group Arion.
After graduating from Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana, he has been successfully transferring his knowledge and experience to younger generations, making an important contribution to the motivation and education of young vocal groups in Ljutomer and the surrounding area. As the long-term president of the Orfej Cultural Society , Vito has also proved to be an excellent organizer in the preparation of numerous music events.
In 2019, he received the Miklošič Award from the Municipality of Ljutomer.
During concert tours, competitions and festivals, the choir performed on many stages at home and abroad: in Croatia (2009), Hungary (1994, 2011, 2013) and Poland (2008, 2015), in Austria (1995, 1996, 2012, 2019.) ), Belgium (2013), Belarus (2008), France (1994, 2007, 2011, 2018), Italy (1995), Macedonia (2010), Germany (1994, 1999, 2012), Serbia (2011), Spain , 2006, 2010) and Switzerland (1995, 2008).
Orfej is the organizer of many music events. In 2007 and 2008, Orfej organized the International Festival of Choral Music ORFEST.
The many prizes and awards place Orfej among the most prominent choral ensembles in Slovenia.
And so I met these wonderful people, whose hearts differ
from the hearts of others – they are bigger somehow.
We all have our ups and downs, beautiful and less beautiful moments, but it is this heart that always wins me over and gives me motivation to carry on.
Andraž Hauptman,
Conductor, Choirmaster and Pianist
