Cultural disgrace

It's a disgrace when urbanites bitch about how boring their life can get in big cities. I'm thinking specifically about Poznań where I've been living for over seven years now (Jesus, what has become of me?) and where whinging about the state of the local culture scene has been vocal and frequent. In reality, such an attitude is growing more and more difficult to defend in view of the city's quite impressive and diverse record of events and it seems all those who keep complaining are now squarely faced with the fact that, possibly, they never wanted to participate in the first place.

Yes, Poles are lazy and tend to believe things happen outside them and their communities, so instead of joining and contributing, they would rather wait and see what happens, and then criticise failures. I suspect this has a lot to do with their strong sense of being domestic, private, withdrawn.

OK, by and large I'm no different and my first instinct is to rush home, amplified by my job that involves a lot of intense interaction with people, which possibly saps most of my communal resources and propels me home as soon as it's possible. There are days, however, when I do go out and take advantage of what Poznań has to offer. Last week, for instance, being no expert in the field, not even a fan, I ventured to attend a flute concert in the new concert hall of Poznań Academy of Music. Finale of the first International Flute Festival, sponsored by the EEA grant, it featured solo performances by two Reykyavik-based flautists, Martial Nardeau and Gudrún Birgisdóttir. Educated in France, Nardeau put forward a praiseworthy interpretation of three classic compositions from the 18th and 19th century, whereas Birgisdóttir went for a handful of contemporary Icelandic pieces that combined flute sound with drama. At one point during the evening, both musicians joined forces in what was arguably the most compelling part of the concert.

Spread leisurely over about an hour, the show was a great reminder that it's my obligation to keep discovering. And it's not just flute music that was new here, but the place, the newly-erected Aula Nova concert hall, sprawled right in the middle of Poznań and with its doors wide open to visitors.