Press room

Hania Rani & Ensemble present: Ghosts
Saturday 5 April 2025, 7:30pm
Barbican Hall
Tickets from £30 plus booking fee

Polish pianist and composer, Hania Rani makes her Barbican debut, presenting her album Ghosts in a special arrangement for large ensemble.

Rani released her 70-minute-long double album Ghosts (Gondwana Records) in 2023 in direct contradiction to, in her words, “a common tendency of adjusting art form to a reality shaped by mass media”. The full and complete album will be performed by Rani alongside a large ensemble including string, woodwind, and brass instruments. Most of the other musicians are also long-time collaborators and friends of Rani’s, from cellist Dobrawa Czocher to bassist Ziemowit Klimek, each coming from versatile music backgrounds. More commonly used to performing solo, surrounded by multiple keyboards, Rani will present the complete album at the Barbican as part of a tour with her ensemble in a way that its orchestral and tangled nature wouldn't permit it to be performed alone.

The performance will also be accompanied by new light and set design by Stuart Bailes who will visualize the intricate nature of the album by weaving together hundreds of sounds, flavours and stories.

Rani comments:

“This 'Ensemble' tour is an attempt to fulfil an idea that has been in my head for a long time - performing live the complete album “Ghosts” with a specially expanded ensemble, in some of my favourite venues in Europe. What utterly interests me is how one thing can be distributed through endless translations - losing its initial shape but at the same time morphing into something new through different perspectives and environments. I also consider this tour as a summing up of my expansive touring in 2023 and 2024 and a last luminous chunk before my well-earned dimmed period of quietness. I find it utterly inspiring and moving to finish this exciting ghostly adventure in such a profound and expansive way - celebrating it with a special set of people and my dear listeners.”

Produced by the Barbican

Find out more