BBC RADIO 3 in the United Kingdom, has described rising up-and-coming Czech conductor Nikol Kraft, as ‘‘rapidly gaining a reputation for her interpretation of Czech symphonic music.’’ Nikol’s broadcast for BBC RADIO 3 with the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra featured a program of Dvorak, Smetana and Suk. Her concert was also broadcast throughout Germany on Bayerischer Rundfunk. In Switzerland on Radio Télévision Suisse, and on many other European broadcasting networks.
Following her success in the La Maestra competition, where she made it to the final 14 out of 202 participants, Nikol got the opportunity to step in at short notice and lead the closing Gala of the 32nd Mozart Festival at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw (2023), organized by the renowned Warsaw Chamber Opera. Collaborating with stage director Tomasz Cyz, the ancient instruments Musicae Antique Collegium Varsoviense and the Vocal Ensemble of the Warsaw Chamber Opera.
In 2024, she was also selected to collaborate with the Berliner Symphoniker and Opéra de Baugé, and was awarded a scholarship from the Czech Phil Foundation to participate in the masterclass. In 2023, she participated in the Järvi Conducting Academy, having been selected from over 200 candidates. She was taught by Paavo, Kristjan, and Neeme Järvi, as well as Leonid Grin. Subsequently, she attended a masterclass with Marin Alsop, with whom she studied The Rite of Spring.
In 2024, she was also selected to collaborate with the Berliner Symphoniker and Opéra de Baugé.
With the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, she has recorded the lesser-known symphonic ballad Voyevoda by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for Czech Radio.
Nikol is dedicated to both concert and operatic activities. She made her conducting debut at some of the Czech Republic’s most important music festivals – the International Music Festival Český Krumlov, Festival Smetana Litomyšl, IMF Smetana Days, Lednice-Valtice Music Festival and Festival Musica Holešov. She has appeared in concerts conducting the Brno Philharmonic, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, South Czech Philharmonic, West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra and Suk Chamber Orchestra. She conducted the Paris Mozart Orchestra and the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra at the competitions. Nikol is anticipating a return to the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra and the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc.
OPERNWELT critically acclaimed Nikol Kraft’s performance of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen at the Janáček Brno International Festival, where she conducted 8 sold-out performance of The Cunning Little Vixen. In past seasons, Nikol was appointed assistant of Dvořák´s Rusalka at the Landestheater Coburg (Germany), and at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater (Germany). She was appointed second conductor for the Prague National Theatre for performances of Orff´s operas Der Mond, and Die Kluge. She has acted as assistant conductor for the Brno National Theatre opera production of the world premiere of Alice in Bed, by composers Ivo Medek and Markéta Dvořáková; Puccini’s Tosca, and Janáček´s Jenůfa.
She began conducting under the guidance of Libor Pešek, later František Vajnar and Leoš Svárovský. She studied conducting at the Janáček Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Brno (Czech Republic) under Jan Zbavitel. She was a conducting scholarship recipient at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, studying conducting with Professor Mark Stringer. In 2014 she was also awarded a Bayreuther Festspiele conducting scholarship. Nikol also graduated in musicology from the Charles University Faculty of Philosophy in Prague. As part of her studies she also completed a semester internship at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, where she finished her dissertation titled Rafael Kubelík’s Aesthetic Positions in the Light of Sources in Munich. She is a graduate of Prague‘s Jan Neruda Gymnasium with a special concentration on music where she studied organ with Petr Čech and Wacław Golonka.
Dated 13.1.2025.