I’m calling Hania Rani from Reykjavík, where I am staying for Nordic Music Days. Hania, or Hanna, as I got to know her when we studied together in Berlin some eight years ago, is in Amsterdam, where she works at the moment. Before getting into the interview, Hania tells me that she too is about to go to Iceland, for a quick recording session. We’ll be missing each other by a couple of days. After that, she goes on touring, which also will bring her to Denmark, for concerts at the new music festival Resonator in Odense and a sold out concert in Copenhagen. It’s been some years since we last saw each other. While I have stayed in classical music in the broadest sense, Hania has moved on towards pop music. I’m interested to hear how this came about.
I remember our lessons at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. We were playing »Dichterliebe«.