NIKOL BÓKOVÁ

CLASSICAL WORLD

The awareness that music has flowed through her body and soul has been apparent since childhood. Classical music is capable of a deep bond, a strong connection, between the composer, the interpreter and the listener, and this is something Nikol adores and, through her playing, what was a set of notes on a page transforms into a range of emotions, feelings and stories everyone can relate to in some way or other. The combination of being intimate, sensitive, fragile and, at the same time, strong and open, is what drives Nikol's desire to play.

COMPOSITIONS FALLING INTO THE JAZZ WORLD

"At some point, I've started to become fascinated by the sound of the jazz trio. It was a sound and combination that totally stunned me. Each performance I saw sent butterflies racing through my stomach and so the desire to pursue this sound myself was born. I began to work on compositions and very soon I formed my own trio with Martin Kocián and Michał Wierzgoń, a duo who has played often together. I knew from the first instance these two guys completely got what I was trying to do and what I wanted to say. And although I change or expand the instrumentation, the line-up piano, double bass, and drums remain my beloved compositional core."

PROMETHEUS TRILOGY

SINGLES

SOLEIL ET PLUIE ソレー イーット プルイー

ELEMENTS

NIKOL'S FOURTH ALBUM

After the albums Inner Place (2019), Unravel (2020), and Prometheus (2021) comes the album Elements (2022), which Nikol composed for the newly formed group, performing under the name Nikol Bokova Quartet. This line-up consists of guitarist David Doruzka, who has already collaborated with Nikol on the album Prometheus, double bass player Martin Kocian and drummer Michał Wierzgon, who both are permanent members of the Nikol Bokova Trio.

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​Elements is released by Soleil et Pluie (Sun and Rain), a record label founded this year by Nikol Bóková and Jan Vala. The Elements, therefore, occupies the ceremonial role of the first album released.

ELEMENTS

The main Nikol’s inspiration for composing this music became classical elements – earth, water, fire, aether, and cosmos, and the vision of the artistic abilities of specific artists for whom she creates her music.

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"If I were to try some genre specifications, I would say that compared to my previous albums, Elements are here and there more classic, in some places, there is more jazz, elsewhere more pop and at times definitely more rock," says Nikol, adding that, as in previous albums, her compositional style was again based on searching and discovering within her own musical world, which apparently continues to expand.

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From the first review by Jindrich Göth:

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"At times, it recalls King Crimson's dreaminess and philosophical thoughtfulness of the Starless And Bible Black period, at other times is rock-emphatic, pop-telling, but at each moment exciting, rich, and light at the same time. The individual motifs follow each other with ease and self-evidentness. It is not just a cluster of songs, but a carefully thought-out whole."

BIO

Nikol Bóková is a musician dedicated to many genres of music. As a performer of classical music, her repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary music but the 19th and 20th Century periods are a primary focus. At the same time, she is an extraordinary author of her own, unique music.

Her work draws on her training as a classical pianist and combines elements of jazz, classical music, pop music, and minimalism. Over the space of four years, she recorded four albums that met with high critical acclaim. Her debut album INNER PLACE, which was nominated for the Czech Music Academy Award, and the second album, UNRAVEL, she recorded with Michał Wierzgoń and Martin Kocián, who are foremost jazz musicians of the young generation. The third album PROMETHEUS was released in May 2021, less than a year after the release of Unravel. For the recording of Prometheus Nikol invited remarkable jazz musicians David Dorůžka and Jaromír Honzák, and world-renown French horn player Radek Baborák. In March 2022 she recorded her fourth author album in a line-up of the quartet when she decided to extend her trio by David Dorůžka. While all previous albums were released by Animal Music label, Elements is released by SOLEIL ET PLUIE (Sun and Rain), a record label founded this year by Nikol Bóková and Jan Vala. The Elements, therefore, occupies the ceremonial role of the first album released. 

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Besides composition, Nikol has pursued a solo career as a pianist, she regularly appears with foremost Czech orchestras on Czech and European stages, she performs solo recitals, and records classical music for the Czech Radio. She's performed at the festivals such as Janacek's May, JazzFestBrno, American Spring, Summartónar, or Influencers of resonance.

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In collaboration with the visual artist Jan Vala, she has co-authored the CATAPLASM project and has been promoting it within the Patreon donor platform, where you can support Nikol’s artistic journey. In the project, she combines the world of classical music with her own work and creates masterclasses, piano lessons for beginners, video clips, documentaries, and audio-visual projects in which she allows listeners a peek into a musical world and creative process of her own and other people who live by music. Within this project, she works not only as a composer but also as an editor and screenwriter.

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Nikol's recent successes are the Anděl Award 2021 for the album Prometheus in a jazz category, awarded by the Czech Music Academy, the Anděl Award nomination for the best jazz album of the year 2019 for her debut Inner Place, second prize in the survey of the Czech journalists and promoters for the album Unravel, a nomination for the Jantar prize in the category of the best soloist of the year 2020 for Unravel, first prize in the competition of the Central European Jazz Showcase 2021, or an award for the best jazz composition of the year 2020 for the piece Prometheus, awarded by OSA.

JAN & NIKOL

and their cataplasm world

Nikol is a pianist and composer. Jan is a visual artist (and experience designer). You might know them individually from different projects. Here (in their creative world they named cataplasm) – they are putting their heads and hearts together to build something new and challenging. To create space for discussions about interpretation and compositions, to write screenplays, film music videos, make music masterclasses and piano lessons, shoot documentaries. There are many things they have already done and much more things they are passionate to do.

The cataplasm project is self-donated. The main motivation is their love for music, film, and art in general. If you like what Nikol and Jan do, please, subscribe to their cataplasm YouTube channel, share their videos. And if you would like to support them on their creative journey, you can do so by becoming their patron on the platform Patreon.