Tomáš Sýkora

Tomáš Sýkora (*1979, Nymburk, Czechoslovakia) Czech composer, pianist, producer, arranger, teacher. He studied at the Conservatory of Jaroslav Ježek in Prague (composition, piano) and got masters degree after graduation at the Music Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (composition). As a composer and pianist he founded and led his own original projects such as jazz quintet Nedaba (cd Songs About...2009), and multi genre wrgha POWU orchestra (cd Kapiloongo, 2010, opoPOP, 2012, Ať rosa z nebes sestoupí, 2013). With both of them, he performed in many venues in the Czech Republic. In 2013, Tomáš, together with another pianist and composer Zdeňka M. Košnarová, recorded cd To the Wind and to the Dark, with their original compositions for solo piano. This cd was successfully presented in several concert halls and radio broadcasts in Germany, France, Portugal and Croatia. Since 2013, Tomaš has been a producer, arranger, bandleader and pianist of female vocalist Lena Yellow. As a result of this collaboration the original cd Positivity (2014) was released. The band has been touring with this project throughout the Czech Republic. In October 2015, Lena Yellow project supported the legendary UK band Incognito during its concert in Prague. As a composer, Tomáš focuses mostly on contemporary classical and jazz music. His compositions have already been performed by several Czech symphonic orchestras, big bands and other ensembles (Philharmonic of Olomouc city, Philharmonic of Pilsen, Prague Wind Quintet, Pavel Bořkovec string quartet, Concept Art Orchestra, Bo Big band, etc.) and famous soloists (Karel Dohnal, Jan Keller, Zdeňka M. Košnarová, Ilya Blackwedge). Also, he has composed several pieces of music for documentary movies and theatre. His composition A Song About Šoša won the OSA award in the category The Best Czech Jazz Composition of 2013. Tomáš is an active member of The Prague Six, a group of six Czech big band composers, led by composer and trumpet player Štěpánka Balcarová. In 2015, the group recorded cd Concept Art Orchestra and Prague 6 containing original big band compositions from each member. This cd was awarded the Czech Anděl Award in category The Best Jazz and Blues Record. In December 2018, the formation recorded cd of original Christmas compositions Vánoce dospělých which was nominated for the Czech Anděl Award 2018 in category Jazz. As and arranger, Tomáš regularly cooperates with FOK (Prague Symphony Orchestra). In 2017, Tomáš worked mainly on his two big projects. He processed a complete orchestration of the most essential piece of music of the renowned Czech jazz composer Karel Růžička Celebration Jazz Mass which was introduced to public in June 2017. In the fall, he recorded his solo piano cd Songs and Old Forms where he got back to the Czech roots while connecting classical and jazz music. Since then he has been successfully touring with this project in the Czech Republic and abroad. In the Fall 2018, Tomáš founded his chamber Tomáš Sýkora Trio with the main purpose – to play his original music and share joy from music among people. Following his solo piano project, also here, he gets back to the roots and his jazz idols (eg. Bill Evans, Horace Silver, Chick Corea, John Taylor). Nevertheless, the inspiration by contemporary musicians is also visible (eg. Edward Simon, Aaron Parks, Nitai Herskovits, Tigran Hamasyan). He focuses on melody, sophisticated sound and color of his original compositions.