Emil Viklicky graduated from the Palacky University at Olomouc in mathematics (1973). 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.

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.