For Unsound New York 2025, Hania Rani presents Chilling Bambino, her ever-evolving project, with opening support from Polish guitarist Piotr Kurek. The two Polish artists come together in the Main Hall for the opening performance of Unsound.

London-based pianist, composer, and singer Hania Rani was born and raised in Poland, where she went through classical training in Warsaw before relocating to Berlin. And it was there, at the heart of Europe's club scene, that she fell in love with electronic music, eventually figuring out a way to integrate her ornate solo piano compositions with delicate synthesized elements. With her Chilling Bambino alter-ego, Rani explores electronic sounds even more rigorously, focusing on her beloved Prophet synthesizer and augmenting her fluttering melodies with psychedelic rhythms.

The evening will begin with a performance from composer and multi-instrumentalist Piotr Kurek, presenting new music related to his Unsound-released album Songs & Bodies—best described as hypnagogic post-rock, an impressionistic blur of dissociated riffs, jazzy rhythms, and half-heard voices that casts a beguiling digital silhouette of '90s indie music. It’s the closest he’s come to old-fashioned songwriting, but the music is full of blemishes, wrinkles, and personal touches that position them very much in the present. Piotr will appear on stage with local musicians Justin Frye on bass and Greg Fox on drums.

About the artists

Hania Rani is a pianist, composer, vocalist, and genre-blending nonconformist who has made a name for herself interweaving classical, jazz, and electronic influences. Born in 1990 in Gdańsk, Poland—a city renowned for the Solidarity resistance movement— Hania began playing the piano at age seven. She eventually trained as a classical pianist in Warsaw, and later pursued studies in Berlin where she began to explore electronic music. Chilling Bambino acts as her alter-ego, an ever-evolving project that foregrounds her love of the Prophet synth, taking the listener on a sonic adventure through dark-tinted electronica and hypnotic rhythms as Rani lets loose.

Warsaw-based composer and musician Piotr Kurek blurs the line between experimental electronics, minimalism, and fractured song forms. Known for his distinct sense of pacing and texture, Kurek constructs emotionally charged soundscapes that feel uncanny and intimate. His compositions resonate with early computer music, jazz minimalism, chamber forms, and echoes of Renaissance counterpoint. Kurek has released acclaimed solo works on labels such as Unsound, Mondoj, Edições CN, and Hands in the Dark. Among his recent collaborations, he worked with American saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi on a joint album, and performed at Unsound Osaka with Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke. He has also worked across disciplines – from dance and theatre to radio, art and film scores – and has performed at festivals and venues ranging from Berlin’s CTM Festival and Unsound Kraków, New York and Brussels, as well as intimate gallery spaces in Poland and across Europe.

Unsound explores music, sound, and related visual arts, technology, and beyond. Unsound runs festivals in Krakow, New York, Adelaide, and London, and also runs a record label and publishing arm.

Unsound New York is co-organized by Fundacja Tone and co-presented by the Polish Cultural Institute New York. This project is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland from the Culture Promotion Fund in partnership with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.