Composer, pianist and vocalist Hania Rani has established herself as a genre-blending nonconformist whose compositions interweave classical, jazz, and electronic influences. Born in 1990 in Gdańsk, Poland, Hania began playing the piano at age seven. She trained as a classical pianist in Warsaw and later pursued studies in Berlin before settling in London.
A quiet star, Rani constantly seeks the new in her work, a driving quality which brought her to release her symphonic debut Non Fiction: Piano Concerto In Four Movements (Decca Records, Nov. 25) after a series of acclaimed recordings for Gondwana Records and Deutsche Grammophon. Recorded at Abbey Road Studio 2, with an expanded 45-piece Manchester Collective, “Non Fiction” went on to premiere at the Barbican in London.
Following its world premiere and subsequent international performances, Hania Rani will perform with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, saxophonist Jack Wyllie, and conductor Marek Moś at the Berlin Philharmonic on Monday, June 15, 2026.
Questions and Answers
3 FACTS
1. I am currently writing an opera inspired by Solaris and the works of John Dowland, due to premiere at Theater Basel in October.
2. Free Palestine!
3. There are never enough books in your house.
11 QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
There is obviously no one thing, and I’m slightly suspicious about inspiration as a concept as it doesn’t really mean much and bring much to the conversation about art making. Although I’d say the quality that I see in other artists that I admire, practice and cultivate is curiosity. Looking inward and outward and always trying to have your finger on the pulse, otherwise it’s easy to start repeating the old phrases.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
My family house was full of music so I guess it’s ingrained in my mind on a very subconscious level. When I was six, I went to a music school and started getting professional piano lessons.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time? (yes we know it is difficult). Or, which albums have influenced your musical development?
Well, yes it’s an impossible task but I have a couple of records that changed my life. I’d be Beethoven Sonatas performed by Daniel Barenboim (recording from 1967), Portico Quartet’s record ‘Terrain’, Morton’s Feldman’s piece for Bunita Marcus recording with Aki Takahashi and maybe Ravel’s piano concerto with Krystian Zimmerman. I guess I should also add ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ by Pink Floyd, but it’s more of my father’s choice.
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Berlin is friends! I used to live in Berlin so I still have a bunch of dear people in town who I miss dearly. They are all free spirits so maybe this is a quality I associate with Berlin – people live their lives a bit slower and freer and I hope it will stay this way. And I admire Sudanese food spots, I live in London now but the best places are still in Berlin.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
I love the place where I live but my favorite thing is how green the city is and how many small parks you can encounter. So I have couple of favorite parks which I like to visit now and then, for instead Hampstead Heath or London Fields.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I’d probably not exist.
7. What was the last record/music you bought or listened to?
I switched to listening to music on CDs two years ago and my collection is still not very big. Most recently I bought myself John Hassell’s record ‘Vernal Equinox’, which I listen to on repeat at the moment.
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
I’d love to work on a dance piece with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, an iconic choreographer from Belgium and Romeo Castellucci – another iconic figure, in this case in the opera/theater world. Their work made a huge impact on my way of thinking and seeing the world.
9. How important is technology nowadays to your creative process?
Recently I don’t use much technology, even not that much electricity anymore as I’m working at the moment on an Opera and scoring doesn’t really necessitate much of it. But I have another project called Chilling Bambino which is composed for an ensemble of synthesisers. In this case I’d say I’m rather old fashioned, I tend to work with analog synths or acoustic instruments, pen and paper and I’m quite enjoying it.
10. “Non Fiction” is rooted in the music of Polish pianist and composer Josima Feldschuh. When and how did you first come across her work?
It was a piece commissioned by the museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw and they introduced me to her outstanding story. Josima was trapped in the Ghetto in Warsaw under Nazi occupation. When I received the invitation and started researching the theme I realised that her story, and the conditions that she had to confront weren’t that dissimilar to what we see today in Palestine, observing ongoing genocide in Gaza. I thought that my generation is so much involved and upset by the helplessness of the world towards this conflict and Israel’s aggression that it was obvious that Josima’s story could serve as a perfect example and a way to amplify the meaning of her resistance in order to understand and relate to the history happening in front of our eyes.
It’s deeply disturbing that we haven’t learnt much from the past but I feel that there is a lot more understanding and empathy among young people at the moment and I actually feel quite hopeful.
11. Performing this piece in Berlin—a city deeply shaped by 20th-century history, including its role in the outbreak of World War II and the Holocaust—does this context influence how you experience or interpret the work on stage?
I’m sure, and I find it very important to talk about history especially in Germany or Poland, and how it influences our understanding of current events. I’d really recommend seeing a new film ‘Fatherland’ by Paweł Pawliskowski, about Thomas Mann traveling back to Germany in 1949, accompanied by his daughter. Although the story is located in Germany I think that Pawlikowski talks about all of us, no matter where we come from, and that the complex and painful history of Europe is still an enormous influence on the current shape of the world and the positions that we take.
