Karolina Šantl Zupan completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in flute at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. She continued her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, in the class of Professor Wolfgang Schulz. She further refined her skills with world-renowned flutists and pedagogues Peter Lukas Graf, James Galway, and Irena Grafenauer.

During her studies, she won numerous awards at national and international music competitions. She received the Prešeren Student Award in 1990. In 2014, as a member of the flute quartet 4 Syrinx, she won the Porin discography award for the best performance of a composition by a Croatian composer.

Karolina Šantl Zupan began her professional career in 1991 with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. For many years, she collaborated as a principal flutist with the Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana in Ljubljana. As a soloist and chamber musician, she performs with numerous renowned musicians. Since 2001, she has been a member of the international flute quartet 4 Syrinx, with which she has been shaping an independent concert series for many years at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb.

She began her university career in 1994 at the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana. Since 2008, she has also been active at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb. Her students have won national and international awards at competitions. She regularly lectures at professional councils of flute teachers, serves as a member of national and international juries, and leads international seminars for flutists.

Under her editorship, three volumes of Etudes and six volumes of Compositions for Flute, intended for flute instruction in music schools, were published by Državna založba Slovenije. In the field of music pedagogy research, she focuses on studying the interaction between artistic and pedagogical education of future teachers of woodwind instruments. She has presented her work at international scientific conferences.

Alongside her teaching work, she is regularly active in the field of music as a soloist and chamber musician. Her performances have been preserved in permanent radio recordings. She has released nine albums: two for flute and piano, two for flute and harp (Nocturno, Impresija), three with the flute quartet 4 Syrinx (Monochromia, Soba za štiri, Decade), and an album featuring works for flute and orchestra with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra (concertos by Ibert, Feld, and Reinecke). Her most recent album, dedicated to works for flute, harp, and orchestra, was presented to the public in June 2017. Karolina Šantl Zupan is a Yamaha Corporation Flute Artist.