Pavol Kušík

 

He started his musical journey at the age of 6 by playing piano, and moved to the double bass eight years later. Thanks to his passionate teachers (M. Trgová, B. Hrín) he fell in love with the bass so much that he decided to study this instrument at Conservatory in Bratislava (Z. Janikovič) and at The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava further on (R. Šašina). During his studies he widened his musical skills with the help of another inspiring personalities at various masterclasses (J. Niederhammer, F. Rabbath, T. Barbé, C. Rotaru, S. Colley, …). Along the classical repertoire he always loved to play another music genres, such as slovak folk music, argentine tango, jazz or free improvisation. This led to another studies in jazz arranging (M. Jakabčic) and composition (V. Gräffinger). His own compositions he used to perform with his in Bratislava based instrumental quartet named Voľný pád. Since 2011 he has been a member of the orchestra Fats Jazz Band, which, under the leadership of Ladislav Fanzowitz, plays early jazz and swing music from late 1920s till 1940s in so called historical informed performance.

 

Pavol Kušík began to devote himself to teaching activities already during his studies at VŠMU. Since 2007, he has been working as a double bass and bass guitar teacher at the Jozef Kresánek Elementary Art School in Bratislava, of which he himself is a former graduate. He received several awards for his teaching activities, andalso participated in the creation of the State Educational Program for the elementary art schools in Slovakia in the field of double bass playing.