Karol Kompas studied guitar at the Conservatory in Žilina (J. Labant), at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (J. Zsapka), and at the Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland (A. Gruska, W. Palacz). He earned his doctorate at the Department of Music at UKF in Nitra, where he currently teaches. He also teaches at the Conservatory in Topoľčany. In addition to classical music, he also studied jazz. He has won several awards at performance competitions both at home and abroad, for example in London and in Krynica, Poland.
In addition to Slovakia, he has performed at festivals in England, Austria, Germany, Poland, Serbia, and the Czech Republic. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has collaborated with ensembles such as the Veni Ensemble (a contemporary music ensemble), Musica Aeterna (an early music ensemble), the ZOE chamber ensemble, and others. He is the founder of the Mertz Guitar Duo (founded in 2009, together with Vladimír Ondrejčák) and the PiaTango Project (founded in 2017, performing Tango Nuevo, particularly the works of A. Piazzolla).
In recent years, Karol Kompas has focused primarily on Slovak and Argentine music, performing both solo and in chamber ensembles. He has initiated several concert series and presented programs titled “Stories of Argentine Tango” (2019), “Five Centuries of the Guitar in Slovakia” (2021), “Guitar Music of Argentina” (2022), “Songs of Love – Chansons d’amour” (2023), “Slovak Music for Two Guitars” (2024, 2025), “Sacred Music for Soprano and Guitar” (2024), “French Music for Soprano and Guitar” (2025), “Bratislava – Buenos Aires” (2025). He has premiered numerous works by Slovak composers (P. Krška, J. Iršai, P. Machajdík, Ľ. Bernáth, J. Vajó, J. Hruška, J. Králik, A. Döme) in world or Slovak premieres.
He is also involved in composing and arranging music and regularly performs his chamber and solo compositions at concerts. In addition to classical music, he is actively involved in Argentine tango, chanson, musicals, and jazz. He is a regular member of juries for performance competitions in both classical and popular music.
In 2015, he founded the Fatango Argentine tango festival in Nitra and serves as its artistic director.
Author of the photos: Peter Kompas
