One of Europe's known jazz pianists, Emil Viklický has spent four decades weaving Moravian folk traditions into the language of contemporary jazz — earning international acclaim from Tokyo to London and New York. Emil Viklicky's piano has a unique, intimate sound that feels like it is telling a story. Like a gracefull river flowing through the Moravian plains.
Emil Viklicky is a musician who has the canon of Czech classical music just as deep within him as Miroslav Vitouš does, and their collaboration has led to some remarkable recordings. The album Moravian Romance (Venus, Japan, 2018) is a very special document, and best of all might be "Love, oh Love", recorded on video at Jazzfest Bonn 2019, and available on the festival’s YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/u4NVOFpDNdA?si=gf72uJ48KMD9q7GO
Sebastian Scotney, Editor UK Jazz News (from Miroslav new CD review)The ArtsDesk.com
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. 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
This 2004 recording was recently issued (March 2026) as "Lets Freedom Swing"
by Wynton Marsalis Blue Engine Records BE0066Newsday.com
An Interview by Anita Malhotra
As a composer, Emil Viklicky has worked in a wide range of styles, including jazz, contemporary classical, electroacoustic, and in an original style combining jazz with Moravian folk music. His works include three operas, full-length film scores, television music and incidental music for theatre, as well as numerous orchestral and ensemble pieces. He has won many awards for his compositions, and in 2004 was commissioned by Wynton Marsalis to write a melodrama for jazz band based on the prison letters of Václav Havel. In 2011 Viklický was honored with the Czech Republic’s prestigious Medal of Merit.
chttps://artsmania.ca/2015/06/21/interview-with-emil-viklicky/ARTSMANIA Canada
One more who knocked me sideways: As an aspiring but hopelessly inept pianist wannabee I am in awe of the Czech maestro Emil Viklický who solos on three of the titles including, as you’d expect the one entitled “Keith Jarrett”. But here he’s not impersonating – he’s distinctively himself and expertly twisting and turning through the tricky changes.
From Richard Pite review of an album Hidden VisionRichard Pite, UK JazzNews.com, Hidden Vision review
Czech pianist Emil Viklicky, another musician who is something of a Jazz Mann favourite, makes a substantial contribution to "Hidden Vision" track and is one of the featured soloists. The co-leaders are also featured with Martin Speake soloing on alto and Charlie Rees on tenor. This opening tune builds up a considerable head of steam during its latter stages, with drummer Tom Hooper enjoying a feature towards the close.
From Ian Mann review of an album Hidden Vision
https://www.jazzwise.com/reviews/martin-speake-big-band-hidden-visionhttps://www.thejazzmann.com/