Christmas carols to ring out through Prague's metro

Prague metro stations will come alive to the sounds of Christmas music this Tuesday, December 13, when the city's "Tune in to the Prague metro" event kicks off in the late afternoon hours as travelers head home from work.

This year, passengers going through Prague metro stations at Muzeum and Náměstí Republiky will have the opportunity to stop and catch Christmas-themed performances from a lineup of performers courtesy of Prague public transport authority DPP.

The performances will include two special concerts by DPP's very own choir, who will fill the entrance to the Muzeum metro station at the top of Prague's Wenceslas Square with Christmas carols during two performances at 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening.

At the Muzeum station, the concerts from the DPP choir will be preceded by two performances by Jiří Šámal, who plays with a unique disc-shaped percussion instrument called a hangdrum, from 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.

A lineup of four different bands will play at the Náměstí Republiky station, meanwhile, by the entrance to the Palladium shopping center. Local ensemble b11 will kick off the festivities at 4:00 p.m., followed by The Pointless Teddy Bear at 5:00 p.m., JR Band at 6:00 p.m., and the Big Band from Prague's Jaroslav Ježek Higher Vocational School and Conservatory at 7:00 p.m.

Because the concerts are held at the entrance vestibules of the two metro stations, they aren't only limited to travelers on Prague public transport. Anyone passing through the area can stop into the station to catch a Christmas-themed performance without having to purchase a transport ticket.

The Christmas concerts in Prague's metro station had become an annual tradition by the early 2010s, with the event typically being held at Muzeum, Florenc, and other metro stations each Christmas season.

However, the concerts were not held in 2020 and 2021 due to pandemic restrictions, some of which explicitly restricted singing in public places. This Tuesday will mark the first time in three years that Christmas carols have officially been sung in Prague's metro stations.

"Pre-Christmas concerts in the metro have become a traditional part of the advent season in Prague," Jaroslav Ďuriš, former general director of DPP, stated in a press release for a past season's concerts.

"I believe that, just like in previous years, passengers will take a moment to listen to the carols and sing the traditional ones together with the performers."

This year's concerts are presented by DPP free of charge for the Prague public. More information can be found at the transport authority's official website.