Ausverkauft: Hania Rani & Dobrawa Czocher

Hania and Dobrawa's haunting art grows out of a friendship that began in their early teens. It reflects a shared passion for everything from classical and jazz to electronica and contemporary music, and refuses to accept artificially imposed boundaries between different genres. Her work has also been shaped by, among other things, the natural rhythms of the seascapes and landscapes of northern Poland and beyond, the freedom and space of improvisation, and a brave openness to all emotions, sensations and feelings.

Hania Rani was born in 1990 in Gdańsk and started playing classical piano at the age of 7. Four years later she began experimenting with new musical styles after meeting Dobrawa Czocher at music school, and continued her education in Warsaw at the prestigious Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music. Postgraduate studies in Berlin introduced her to the work of composer, performer and producer Nils Frahm and other pioneering creatives. She worked on the tracks for her debut album while on retreat in Iceland in 2017, naming it Esja after the volcanic mountains near Reykjavík. The album received rave reviews, led to a series of concerts across Europe and Japan, and inspired broadcaster Mark Coles to feature Hania as on one of his BBC Radio 4 shows. Her latest solo album, Home, was released in May 2020.

Born in 1991 in the historic town of Tczew, some 30 kilometres from Gdańsk, Dobrawa Czocher received her first cello lessons at the age of seven. After studying at the Feliks Nowowiejski School of Music, the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music and in Germany, she became a member of the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to her orchestral work and chamber music performances, she continues to pursue creative collaborations in Warsaw, not least with Hania Rani.

The young Polish duo, friends since their student days at the Feliks Nowowiejski Music School in Gdańsk, are known for their emotionally restrained yet free-spirited, wholly honest and authentic musical style.
Their first album, Biała flaga ("White Flag"), marked the beginning of their artistic partnership. After Dobrawa was invited to reinterpret the music of the late Polish composer Grzegorz Ciechowski (founder and frontman of the band Republika), she asked Hania to make the album with her. Biała flaga entered the top 30 of the Polish album charts after its release in September 2015. The recording showed the artists' ability to take a distinctive sound and translate it into their own unique musical language. It gained them a cult following and laid a secure foundation for their dynamic creative dialogue.

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