Hania Rani gave the world premiere of her first piano concerto, Non Fiction, over two nights with Manchester Collective as a 45-piece orchestra.
Polish pianist Hania Rani, winner of seven Fryderyk Awards, premiered her first piano concerto, Non Fiction, at the Barbican Centre on Tuesday 25 November 2025. She played it in the Barbican Hall again the next night.
Born Hanna Raniszewska in Gdańsk in 1990, she trained as a classical pianist in Gdańsk, Warsaw and Berlin. She began bringing jazz into her playing while still at music school.
In 2024 ITV commissioned a piece from her for the opening credits of its England football coverage.
Non Fiction responds in part to the compositions of Josima Feldschuh, a young prodigy who wrote in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. Rani set that story beside the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and how modern media shows them.
The concert opened with a second premiere, Shining, written for 12 musicians and inspired by Jon Fosse’s novella A Shining.
Manchester Collective played as a 45-piece orchestra under Hugh Tieppo-Brunt, with Jack Wyllie on saxophone and Valentina Magaletti on drums.