Karel Vrtiška was born in Prague in 1990. He studied at the Ilja Hurník Primary Art School with M. Tomanová, and later at the Prague Music School with J. Toman.

In 2010, he completed his Bachelor's degree at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under B. Krajny. He then studied at the Nuremberg University of Music with W. Manz, graduating with a merit scholarship in 2012. In 2015, he earned his Master's degree at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under M. Kasík.

Vrtiška achieved his first competition successes as a child, winning prizes at the Prague Junior Note and Carl Czerny competitions. Over the years, he has won numerous awards at home and abroad, including 1^(st) Prize at the Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte competition (2005), laureate titles at the Beethoven's Hradec competition and the Vítězslav Novák competition, and 2^(nd) Prize at the International Beethoven's Hradec competition (2016).

He has performed as a soloist with conductors including Paul Freeman, Marek Ivanović, Libor Pešek, Petr Vrábel and Koji Kawamoto, and with orchestras such as the Czech National Orchestra, Berg Orchestra, Prague Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Academic Chamber Soloists, Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic, Pilsen Philharmonic and Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc. He has recorded for the BBC, Czech Radio and Czech Television.

He attended masterclasses led by P. Badura-Skoda, G. Ohlsson, W. Askenazy and A. Gavrilov. During P. Zukerman's masterclass in Ottawa, Canada, he performed in the closing concerts at Tabaret Hall and the National Arts Centre.

He gave solo recitals at the Prague Spring International Music Festival and as part of the subscription series of the Czech Philharmonic, the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc and the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, as well as at the Bach for All Festival. Alongside his solo career, he performs chamber music and in 2015 appeared at the Moscow International Chamber Music Festival Vesna v Rossiji, the International Student Music Festival in Kyoto, Japan and the Prague Art Academies: Independent Spirits showcase at the Czech Centre in New York
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He has been collaborating with tenor Štefan Margita, serving as his accompanist in recitals, including three performances at the World Expo in Osaka in 2025.

Currently, Vrtiška combines performing with teaching at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague's Department of Piano Collaboration and at the Gymnasium and Music School of the City of Prague.

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