The hall of the Královo Pole railway station awaits demolition

Brno - The Czech Christmas Mass by Jakub Jan Ryba resonated today in the hall of the Královo Pole train station in Brno. In this seventy-year-old space, as many people gathered as the hall has not seen for a long time and will probably not experience anything like it again. The Czech Railways plans to demolish it next year and build a new, smaller, and more modern station hall. The mass was performed by the Tišnov Chamber Orchestra and the Královo Pole Church Choir together.

"We had a two-year hiatus from Christmas performances due to COVID. We were inspired in Prague, where the Rybovka is played at the station, and it is also performed in the Brno Alfa Passage. So we studied it as well and wanted to bring it to the people," said the conductor of the Tišnov ensemble, Tomáš Křemen, to ČTK. The departure hall was filled with a Christmas atmosphere complete with a Christmas tree, and visitors could also contribute to charity for the Society for Early Care.

For 45 minutes, the grand station space echoed with the sounds of organs, other instruments, and choral singing performed by 65 musicians. "The Regional Directorate of Czech Railways was very accommodating to us and helped us with everything, even the station announcements were turned off. Colleagues from both ensembles were quite excited. We play outside, we play in churches, but we have not played in train stations yet," Křemen said.

The choice of the Královo Pole station was made because of the ideal space, but also because people from the Tišnov area regularly pass through this station when traveling to Brno. "And we have been collaborating with colleagues from Královo Pole for a long time, longer than I have been a conductor. And who else to play with when we are in Královo Pole," Křemen noted.

The Rybovka was created at the end of the 18th century and tells the story of the announcement of Christ's birth and the arrival of the shepherds to the manger.