With its heart-warming narrative and underlying message of hope, resilience and empathy, the story of how pianist Mahani Teave came to make her debut recording reads like a fairy tale. (Little wonder that an Emmy Award-winning producer has been inspired to make a film about it.) But behind most fairy tales are some familiar ingredients: determination, self-belief, a desire to make the world a better place – and a little bit of luck. And Mahani Teave is no exception.

Born on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in the South Pacific, 2000 miles off the Chilean coast, Teave wanted to learn the piano but there were no instruments available. She eventually found a way and soon caught the attention of Chilean pianist Roberto Bravo, who advised her to study in Chile. Six years later, she continued her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Berlin’s Hans Eisler Academy.

Teave began giving concerts in Europe, Asia and South America but, aged 30, she made the career-changing decision to move back home to ensure the next generation could access music more easily than she herself had been able to. In 2013, she launched a free music school, Toki Rapa Nui. Made out of reclaimed rubbish – tin cans, bottles and Pacific Ocean plastic – the school is situated at the end of a long dirt road dappled with farms and is equipped with only the most basic facilities. Yet it is providing the island’s children with an extraordinary opportunity to receive music education.

In 2018, David Fulton – the Seattle-based software magnate and collector of rare violins – visited the island on a cruise, and an organised outing to Toki Rapa Nui was on the itinerary. When he arrived, he found a unique building, enthusiastic music students dressed with flowers in their hair, and the school’s founder playing on an old upright piano. ‘I could not have been more astonished if Horowitz or Rubinstein had stepped onstage,’ Fulton recalled.

Discovering that she had never made a recording, Fulton arranged for her to travel to Seattle to make an album, the proceeds of which will go directly to her school. The result is ‘Rapa Nui Odyssey’, a recital of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, Handel’s Suite No 5 in E minor, Chopin’s Scherzo No 1 in B minor and Barcarolle, Liszt’s Ballade No 2 and Vallée d’Obermann, and some smaller pieces by Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Chopin. A traditional Rapa Nui song is also included.

The recording has just been released on Rubicon Classics and is available digitally on all download and streaming platforms, and also as a physical CD. John Forsen’s film is available on Amazon Prime – you can watch the trailer below.