Biography Emil Viklický

Emil Viklicky was born on the 23rd November 1948 in Olomouc, where in 1971 he graduated from the Palacky University in mathematics. Whilst a student he devoted much time to playing jazz piano. In 1974 he was awarded the prize for best soloist at the Czechoslovak Amateur Jazz Festival, and in that same year he became a member of Karel Velebny's SHQ ensemble. In 1976 he was a prizewinner at the jazz improvisation competition in Lyon and his composition Green Satin (Zeleny saten) earned him first prize in the music conservatory competition in Monaco, where in 1985 his Cacharel won second prize in the same competition. In 1977 he was awarded a year's scholarship to study composition and arrangement with Herb Pomeroy at the jazz school of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He then continued his composition studies with Jarmo Sermila, George Crumb and Vaclav Kucera. Since his return to Prague he has been directing his own ensembles (primarily quartets and quintets), composing and arranging music and - since the death of Karel Velebny - working as director of the Summer Jazz Workshops in Frydlant. He has also lectured at a similar workshop event in Glamorgan, Wales. Between 1991 and 1995 Viklicky was President of the Czech Jazz Society, and since 1994 he has worked with the Ad lib Moravia ensemble, whose performances combine elements of Moravian folk music, modern jazz and contemporary serious music. In 1996 the ensemble undertook a highly successful concert tour of Mexico and the United States.

Emil Viklicky - photo Jan Sibrik (C) 1998

As pianist Viklicky often performs in international ensembles alongside musicians from the USA and other European countries - with the Lou Blackburn International Quartet and the Benny Bailey Quintet, for example, and with multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson. He has made frequent appearances in Finland (with the Finnczech Quartet and in particular with Jarmo Sermila) and Norway (with the Czech-Norwegian Big Band and Harald Gundhus) and has performed in the USA, Japan, Mexico, Israel, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands (at the North Sea Festival) and elsewhere. The editor of Rolling Stone wrote of Viklicky that "It was a delightful surprise to see such first-class, top-of-the-line jazz in Prague.

As composer Viklicky has attracted attention abroad primarily for having created a synthesis of the expressive elements of modern jazz with the melodicism and tonalities of Moravian folk song that is distinctly individual in contemporary jazz. Besides this, however, he also composes 'straight-ahead' modern jazz as well as chamber and orchestral works that utilize certain elements of the New Music, and at times his music requires a combination of classical and jazz performers. He also composes incidental and film music and has produced scores for several full-length feature films and television series. Throughout the 1990s he has devoted an increasing amount of time to the composition of contemporary classical music for a great variety of instrumental combinations ranging from small chamber ensembles and electronic instruments to symphony orchestras and choruses. Viklicky's work has gained him quite a number of prestigious awards.

See also: www.viklicky.com

The Times

... Viklicky himself is a wonderfully lyrical yet robust pianist, his playing packed with dynamic and textural subtleties...

CHRIS PARKER London December 22 1997

Schwann Inside Jazz&Classical, April 2001:

"Emil Viklicky 's introspective musings might remind you of Keith Jarrett or Brad Mehldau.., CD Morava is promissing arrival at new creative plateau"

/ by Calvin Wilson.

Los Angeles Times, Sunday, March 25, 2001:

"Emil Viklicky plays Bill Evans inspired piano... 'Myjava', 'Slunecko sa nizi' a 'Touha' are masterfull examples of world-class jazz artistry"

/ by Don Heckman

www.rootsworld.com/reviews/mraz.shtml

"..this music is given a definite jazz spin by Viklicky´s outstanding arrangements...,

/ by Joe Grossman

Perhaps the greatest revealation to me was the piano work of Emil Viklicky, whose command of the bop tradition pulls the traditional selections into a new world.

© 2001 - Shaun Dale

One of the best contemporary pianists, Emil Viklicky´s soloing and comping, his touch, voicings and intervals have a good deal in common with fleet, tasteful pianists like Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Rowles and Bill Charlap."

Doug Ramsey, JazzTimes, December 2004

PRIZES AND AWARDS

* 1976 - prize for jazz improvization at competition in Lyon, France

* 1976 - first prize in jazz composition competition in Monaco (for Green Satin)

* 1978 - Supraphon prize (for LP In Olomouc Town; V Holomoci meste)

* 1985 - second prize in Monaco jazz composition competition (for Cacharel)

* 1991 - FITES (film and television association) prize for music for animated film

* 1994 - second prize at Marimolin contemporary music competition in Boston, USA (for Tristana)

* 1996 - special prize for electroacoustic music, Prague (for Paradise Park; Rajska zahrada)

* 1996 - special Czech Music Fund prize for use of folk music in art music

* february 2000 - first prize in international composition competition in Prague - Nova opera pro Prahu (for opera Faidra - Phaedra)

CLASSICAL MUSIC WORKS

* 1982 - Partial Symmetry (Castecna symetrie) for flute, oboe, bass clarinet and piano

* 1988 - Tauromaquia for oboe, violin and piano [CD Bonton 7100162011]

* 1988 - Par pondus for viola and jazz big band [LP Supraphon 110183]

* 1988 - Adaemus for oboe solo [Czechoslovak Radio recording]

* 1989 - Wooden Music (Drevena hudba) for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, piano and tape

* 1990 - Spleen of Optimism for computer, piano and voice

* 1990 - Twins of Bern (Dvojnik z Bernu) for five cellos [Edit Records 4100134131]

* 1991 - Keys to the Dawn (Kluce od svitania) for symphony orchestra and jazz quintet

* 1994 - The Adventure of Ignatz P. (Dobrodruzstvi Ignaca P.), an electroacoustic composition

* 1994 - Tristana for violin and marimba [CD Lotos 1996 LT003362131]

* 1995 - Letters to Josip Plecnik (Dopisy Plecnikovi) for mezzo-soprano and eight instruments [CD Lotos 1996 LT003362131]

* 1995 - Three Choruses for Male Voices (Tri muzske sbory) on texts by Eva Petrova [CD Lotos 1996 LT003362131]

* 1999 - A Bird Flew Out (Vyletel ftak) Rhapsody for dulcimer, soprano, male voices, jazz trio and symphonic orchestra

* 1999 - Stoji Jano u potoka for soprano, male voices, dulcimer and symphonic orchestra, on text by Milan Kundera

* 2000 - Faidra opera for soloists, symphonic orchestra, choir (cca 90min.)

* 2002 - Der Ackermann und der Tod, chamber opera (cca 60 min.)

* 2003 - Machuv denik, / Macha, what do you think you are doing/, opera for National Theater Prague /cca 100 min./, premiere May 1st, 2003

* 2004 - The Mystery of Man – melodrama on the texts of Vaclav Havel, for 2 narrators and orchestra, premiere New York City, Oct.28-30, 2004 with Wynton Marsalis Bigband, Alfre Woodard+Mario Van Peebles.

REVIEW:

Conceptually, the most absorbing of the presentations was "The Mystery of Man," by Czech composer Emil Viklicky, which took fragments from Havel's prison letters and speeches and weaved them into a spoken-word libretto with Van Peebles and Woodard trading verbal choruses with the music's Ellingtonian sweep of mood and drama. All involved were challenged to make it through this complex course, especially conductor David Berger ("called back into action," as Marsalis put it), who quietly put forth a clinic on deploying cues. As windy as Havel's public rhetoric can sometimes be, the whole piece made a deep impression with both its intricacy and its insistence.

Gene Seymour, staff writer, www.newsday.com Nov 1st, 2004

PRINCIPAL FULL-LENGTH FILM SCORES

* for Landscape with Furniture (Krajina s nabytkem), directed by Karel Smyczek and shown in 26 countries (1985)

* for The Officer Factory (Tovarna na oficiry), directed by Wolf Vollmar, Mondada Productions (1988)

* for Journey's End (Die Wette), directed by Martin Walz (1991)

* for Lacrimosa (Ma je pomsta), directed by Lordan Zafranovic (1995), soundtrack Popron 540922

* for Kondom des Grauens, Ascot-Ecco film (1996), soundtrack Polygram Hamburg 5358372

* for Liebe Lugen, Metropolis film Berlin (1997)

* for Zprava o putovani Petra a Jakuba, dir. D.Vihanova (2000), nominated for Czech Lion.

MUSIC FOR TELEVISION

* for the series Hamster in a Nightshirt (Krecek v nocni kosili), directed by Vaclav Vorlicek (1994-95)

* for twelve-part series Lucas and Lucy (Broucci), directed by Vlasta Pospisilova

* for the series The Blunders of Boy Blunder, Hugo of the Hills, The Hippopotamus and The Abominable Snowman

* Apocalypso TV PRO7 Munchen 1999

* and for more than twenty films for Czech Television

MUSIC FOR THEATRE

* for The Dance of Death (August Strindberg), National Theatre/Studio Kolowrat, Prague (1994)

* for The Labyrinth of the World (1990) and Ecce homo (1993), F.X. Salda Theatre, Liberec, Czech Republic

* for A Delicate Balance (Edward Albee), Vinohrady Theatre, Prague (1996)

* for The Last Yankee (Arthur Miller), produced by Jan Balzar (1996)

* for Markyza de Sade (J.Mishima), Vinohrady Theatre, Prague (1998)

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

1. The Window (Okno) and The Door (Dvere), the Emil Viklicky Quartet with Bill Frisell

[LP Supraphon 1980 and 1985, reissued on CD Bonton 1997 7105402]

2. Confluence, Jarmo Sermila and Emil Viklicky

[LP Jasemusiikki Finland 1983 jase0004 , reissued on CD 1995]

3. Together (Spolu), Viklicky in a piano duet with James Williams

[LP Supraphon 1981, reissued on CD 1996 SU50712511]

4. Homage to Joan Miro, the Emil Viklicky Quartet and the Talich Quartet

[LP Supraphon 1988 1101801531, reissued on CD 1989 1107632531]

5. Beyond the Mountains (Za horama, za dolama), the Emil Viklicky Trio

[LP Supraphon 1990, CD Supraphon 1108622531]

6. While my Lady Sleeps... the Benny Bailey Quintet

[CD Gemini Records 1990 GMCD 0069]

7. 'Round Midnight, the Emil Viklicky Quartet

[CD Arta 1991 F100202511]

8. Last Conection from Niirasaki Emil Viklicky and Alex Svamberk with Lucie Bila

[CD Monitor/EMI Records 1995 6600912331]

9. Fast Falls the Rain (Prsi dest), Ad lib Moravia

[CD Lotos 1994 LT00142531]

10. Food of Love, the Emil Viklicky Quartet

[CD Melantrich 1995 MCD0142, Lotos 1998 LT00612531]

11. Lacrimosa (soundtrack from the film Ma je pomsta)

[CD Popron 1995 540922]

12. Homage to Josip Plecnik (Pocta Josipu Plecnikovi) Real Audio File

[CD Lotos 1996 LT00362131]

13. UV Drive, Emil Viklicky with Boris Urbanek

[CD Arta 1997 F100812]

14. Bohemia after dark, Emil Viklicky with S.Houben, P.Dvorsky and L.Tropp

[CD PJ Music 1997 PJ0122]

15. Duets, Emil Viklicky with A.Wardell, G.Hopkins, G.Ittzes, E.Marienthal and J.Nicholas

[CD Lotos 1998 LT00552131]

16. Neuro, Emil Viklicky with Jarmo Sermila, Alex Svamberk and Miroslav Posejpal

[CD Gallup Music 1998 0152]

17. Docela vsedni obycejny den, Emil Viklicky with F.Uhlir, P.Dvorsky, L.Tropp, R.Pokorny, E.Rattay

[CD Lotos 1998 LT00712531]

18. Moravian Love Songs, Zuzana Lapcikova with E.Viklicky, P.Ruzicka, PP members, Vcelaran

[CD Lotos 1999 LT00722431]

19. An American in Prague, Benny Golbin with E.Viklicky

[CD ClearWater 2000 CW001]

20. Morava, George Mraz, Billy Hart, Zuzana Lapcikova, Emil Viklicky

[CD Fantasy / Milestone 2001 MCD-9309-2]

21. Live in Rudolfinum, solo piano

[CD PJ Music 2001 PJ 0172]

22. Lullabies, Zuzana Lapcikova, Emil Viklicky, Petr Ruzicka

[CD Multisonic 2001 3105332]

23. Trio '01, Emil Viklicky, Laco Tropp, Frantisek Uhlir

[CD Arta 2002 F10111]

24. What´s New,, Emil Viklický Trio + Steve Houben,

[CD Cube-Métier 2003, MJCD 2317]

25. Summertime, Emil Viklický Trio + Scott Robinson,

[CD Cube-Metier 2004, MJCD 2422 ]

What´s New, Emil Viklický Trio + Steve Houben, CD Cube-Métier 2003, MJCD 2317 Summertime, Emil Viklický Trio + Scott Robinson, CD Cube-Metier 2004, MJCD 2422

CDs available at CDmusic.cz / Siroky dvur.

E.V., Billy Hart drums, Zuzana Lapcikova voice, dulcimer, Todd Barkan producer, Jiri George Mraz bass in Current Sounds studio, New York City

see also: www.viklicky.com

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