Katowice offers its visitors something alternative to picturesque Krakow, only 70km away. Once the industrial heartland of communist Poland, the city and surrounding region of Upper Silesia was synonymous with coal and far from being perceived as a hub for the arts. As the coal mines were closed down in the mid-1990s, there was also a push to make Katowice, known as “the city of music”, into a cultural centre.

Ewa Bogusz-Moore, director of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR), tells fDi how the city’s pre-existing legacy with classical music helped kick start its cultural rejuvenation and why the pandemic has shone a spotlight on new ways of engaging music lovers. 

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