Slovak guitarist Martin Krajčo is one of the prominent personalities of the Slovak music scene. He studied at the Bratislava Conservatory and the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (prof. Jozef Zsapka). In addition to his studies, he regularly attended many master classes under the guidance of world-renowned artists (including Costas Cotsiolis, Leo Brouwer, Luise Walker). He is a versatile artist, active as a soloist and chamber music player.
As a soloist, he has performed with many national and international orchestras. These projects have included collaborations with the State Chamber Orchestra Žilina , Orquestra do Centro , Cappela Istropolitana, Musica Cassovia, I Musici di Teatro and conductors: Peter Breiner, Oliver Dohnányi, Gabriella de Esteban, Maroš Potokár, Dušan Štefánek and others. His activities in the field of chamber music are extremely wide. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Bratislava Guitar Quartet and continuously plays duets with his wife Radka Krajčová. His chamber music projects include cooperations with various artists as Emily Van Evera, Tomáš Janošík, Hrvoje Jugović, Simona Houda- Šaturová , Petra Noskiaová, Eugen Prochác, Ján Slávik, Rea Slawiski, Pavel Steidl, Simona Šaturová, Matúš Šimko, Juraj Tomka, Irena Troupová, Miloš Valent, Ondrej Veselý, Peter Vrbinčík, Moyzes Quartet, Mucha Quartet, Spectrum Quartet and others.
Many of his solo and chamber projects have been part of major events (Bratislava Music Festival, Epoché - New Slovak Music, Festival Mitte Europa, Forum Gitarre Wien, Eszterghom Guitar Festival, Křivoklát Guitar Festival, Volos Guitar Festival, GuitarArt Beograd, I Giardini della Filharmonica Roma, Convergences, Musica Nobilis, Prešov Days of Classical Guitar, etc.). Slovak and world premiere performances of works include compositions by Breiner, Brouwer, Burlas, Godár, Krák, Kupkovič, Malovec, Mertz, Tailleferre and other authors.
Krajčo's discography includes a wide range of works for solo guitar, guitar duets and works for guitar quartet. In 2021 he made a recording of the complete collection Kukuk by Joseph Kaspar Mertz (Music Centre) together with famous Czech guitarist Pavel Steidl. In addition to his artistic activities, he has long been involved in organizational activities. His major projects include the J. K. Mertz, (Un)Known Music , Guitarissimo Bratislava. He is also active as a transcriptionist and lyricist and is a local pioneer of playing historical instruments of the 19th century. He has long been involved with the legacy of Bratislava native J. K. Mertz. He is currently an associate professor of guitar at the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts.
His recent projects include the music of early-romantic period such as original works by Johann Nepomuk Hummel for guitar and fortepiano, Franz Schubert´s lieder for voice and guitar (period arrangements) , as well as wide range of music by Joseph Kaspar Mertz for solo guitar and guitar duo.
In the field of modern and contemporary music is Krajčo very active as arranger for solo guitar, guitar duo or guitar quartet. His interest is mainly directed to music of Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, and his repertory includes a project of the original pieces for solo guitar by famous composer of the 20th century as Manuel de Falla, Sofia Gubajdulina, Alan Hovhaness, Frank Martin, Francis Poulenc, Germaine Tailleferre, John Tavener, Peter Sculthorpe.
Martin Krajčo´s activities include work on artistic research and musicological texts. The results are numerous programme notes for music festivals and cycles (Guitar festival of J. K. Mertz, Slovak Philharmonic, Bratislava music festival…), CD projects, musicological articles for music and research magazines (Hudobný život, Slovenská hudba…). He focuses primarily on the topic of J. K. Mertz and early-romantic period, but the scope of his interest also includes 20th century music (Leo Brouwer…).