Emil Drápela is one of principal Czech clarinet players, versatile in his orientation on solo, chamber as well as orchestra work. It is by far not common for a frequented orchestra player to be simultaneously a soloist with a rich concert practice and a sought-after chamber artist.

He has been playing the clarinet since the age of twelve. He first studied at the Brno Conservatoire with prof. Antonín Doležal and then at Janáček Academy of Arts with doc. Valter Vítek. Since 1981 he has been engaged as solo clarinet player with the Brno Philharmonic. In 1986 he received the laureate title of an Interpretation Competition in Chomutov.

Emil Drápela is a soloist with rich interpretation practice. Apart from the Czech Republic he has performed in twelve European countries (Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Finland, Poland and Slovakia). He was a guest at numerous international festivals (Sevilla, Valladolid, Vallon Festival in Belgium, Rotterdam, Dresden, Vienna, Prague Autumn, Prague Premieres, Moravian Autumn in Brno, Bratislava Music Festival, Janáček May in Ostrava, Emmy Destinn Music Festival in České Budějovice and others).

Apart from his solo cooperation (so far mainly with Czech orchestras) Emil Drápela has been performing at home as well as abroad at solo recitals with piano accompaniment by his wife Dana Drápelová, senior lecturer at Janáček Academy of Arts in Brno.

Emil Drápela is also a sought-after and much frequented chamber player. Since 1982 he has been a member of Philharmonic Wind Trio (oboe, clarinet, bassoon), since 1992 a member of Sonata a tre Ensemble (violin, clarinet, piano) and since 2003 a member of Phoenix Wind Quintet. These chamber ensembles belong to top level of Czech interpretation.

Apart from this he has also been the artistic leader of Harmonie, a wind octet of Brno Philharmonic players specialising in the period of classicism.

This clarinet player frequently cooperates with Czech as well as foreign string quartets. His fifteen-year cooperation with Czech Chamber Soloists is especially significant.
Drápela's recordings for Czech Radio include 200 titles of solo and chamber clarinet pieces. A unique achievement of his concerns a continuing series of recordings of classical Czech as well as worldwide clarinet concertos of the 18th-19th centuries some which have been discovered by the clarinettist himself in old archives, transcribed into instrumental parts and then recorded in a renewed premiere. Drápela's art is also captured on numerous CDs.

Contemporary music is an integral part of his repertoire; he performed or recorded premieres of tens of solo and chamber pieces of contemporary Czech and worldwide authors. He also performed at numerous festivals and shows of contemporary works.