Karol Samuelčík was born in 1991 in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, where he studied at the J. Cikker Primary Music School under Zuzana Meleková. From 2007 to 2011 he studied at the Conservatory in Žilina in the class of Ján Labant. In 2011 he continued his studies at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava, where he graduated in 2016 with the institution’s highest distinction, the Rector’s Award. He furthered his musical development through exchange studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Vigo, Spain, under Margarita Escarpa, and at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, under Álex Garrobé. In 2019 he completed his doctoral studies at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava under the supervision of Professor Jozef Zsapka. Currently, Karol serves as at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Karol has performed in cities across Slovakia, including Bratislava (Melos-Ethos International Festival of Contemporary Music, J. K. Mertz International Guitar Festival, Sunday Matinee), Žilina (Allegretto Festival), Nitra (Cithara Aediculae Festival), Prešov (Prešov Music Spring, Prešov Days of Classical Guitar, Iuvenilis Cithara), Banská Bystrica (Banská Bystrica Music Autumn), and many others. He has also performed extensively abroad in countries such as Spain, Austria, Portugal, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, China, and Hong Kong. In 2019 Karol completed his debut tour of South America, performing in major cities including Buenos Aires (Argentina), Montevideo (Uruguay), Santiago and Temuco (Chile), and Porto Alegre (Brazil). In 2025 he gave concerts in several cities in Mexico and Costa Rica. In 2026 he completed his debut concert tour of the United States, performing in Washington, D.C., New York City, Cedar Rapids, and New Jersey.

As a soloist he has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Slovak Philharmonic, the State Philharmonic Košice, Cappella Istropolitana, the Slovak Sinfonietta Žilina, the Hong Kong Metropolitan Pop Orchestra, Musica Cassovia, the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, and the string quartet Mucha Quartet. He has performed in renowned concert halls, including the Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Shenzhen Concert Hall in China, Kolarac Concert Hall in Belgrade, Suk Hall at the Rudolfinum in Prague, and the Concert Hall of the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava, among others. He has collaborated with renowned conductors including David Giménez Carreras, David Wroe, Oliver von Dohnányi, Rastislav Štúr, Gergely Ménesi, and Marián Vach.

Karol has recorded four solo CDs for the labels Diskant, Real Music House, and Polimelos: the debut album Karol Samuelčík, guitar (2016), featuring works by Isaac Albéniz, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Vicente Asencio; Impresiones de Catalunya (2019), dedicated to Catalan music; Sudamericanía (2022), featuring works by Astor Piazzolla, Radamés Gnattali, Sérgio Assad, Pixinguinha, and Antônio Carlos Jobim; and Impressions from Slovakia (2026), the first solo CD recording devoted exclusively to contemporary Slovak music for classical guitar. Karol performs in a guitar duo with the acclaimed Hungarian guitarist András Csáki and in a violin-guitar duo with violinist Daniel Rumler. He is devoted to the use and development of the right-hand little finger in guitar playing and in 2022 published his book The Development of the Right Little Finger in Guitar Playing, currently the most extensive publication dedicated to this topic. Since 2013 he has been a member of the organizational team of the J. K. Mertz International Guitar Festival in Bratislava. Karol performs on a guitar built by the German master luthier Dennis Tolz and on a romantic guitar based on a Stauffer model built by Slovak luthier Martin Okenica. Since 2025 he has collaborated with Knobloch Strings, a manufacturer of premium guitar strings based in Catalonia, Spain.

Karol has participated in numerous international guitar festivals and masterclasses with renowned artists such as Leo Brouwer, Sérgio Assad, Pavel Steidl, Carlo Domeniconi, Marco Socias, Rémi Smits, Marcin Dylla, Aniello Desiderio, Carlo Marchione, Roland Dyens, and many others. He was awarded First Prize at the J. K. Mertz International Guitar Competition (2012), the Thailand International Guitar Competition (2016), the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarship Programme (2012/2013), the Ivan Balla International Guitar Competition in Dolný Kubín (2009), and the Slovak Conservatory Students’ Competition (2009). In 2013 he received the award for Best Performance of an Italian Composition at the International Guitar Competition in Udine, Italy. In 2015 he became a finalist of the prestigious Forum Gitarre Wien competition. He also received the Student Personality of Slovakia Award in the category of Culture and Arts for the academic year 2016/2017.