Mahani Teave

Award-winning concert pianist Mahani Teave is a pioneering artist who bridges the creative world with education and environmental activism. The only professional classical musician on her native Easter Island, she is an important cultural ambassador to this legendary, cloistered area of Chile. Twice topping the Billboard charts with her debut album, Rapa Nui Odyssey, she received raves from critics, including BBC Music Magazine, which noted her “natural pianism” and “magnificent artistry.”

Twice distinguished as one of the 100 Women Leaders of Chile, Mahani has performed for its five past presidents and in its Embassy, along with those in Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, China, Japan, Ecuador, Korea, Mexico, for former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and in symbolic places including Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, Chile’s Palacio de La Moneda, and Chilean Congress. Believing in the profound, healing power of music, she has performed globally, from the stages of the world’s foremost concert halls on six continents, to hospitals, schools, jails, and low-income areas.

Her passion for classical music, her local culture, and her Island’s environment, along with an intense commitment to high-quality music education for children, inspired Mahani to set aside her burgeoning career at the age of 30 and return to her Island to co-found the non-profit organization Toki Rapa Nui with Enrique Icka, creating the first School of Music and the Arts of Easter Island. Offering both classical and traditional Polynesian lessons in various instruments to over 100 children, Toki Rapa Nui offers not only musical, but cultural, social, and ecological support for its students and the area. A self-sustaining architectural wonder, its infrastructure was recognized with a Recyclápolis Environmental National Award, and was built using Earthship Biotecture and the help of acclaimed American architect Michael Reynolds. Made up entirely of recycled materials, it is unique to Latin America and Polynesia, uses solar energy and water collectors, and the organization has also developed a large organic agro-ecological project for food sovereignty.

Her inspirational story was chronicled by 15-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker John Forsen in a documentary, Song of Rapa Nui, which was nominated for an Emmy and is available globally on Amazon Prime Video. Her life is also the topic of a newly-released children’s picture book, The Girl Who Heard the Music: How One Pianist and 85,000 Bottles and Cans Brought New Hope to an Island, written by Mahani and Marni Fogelson with illustrations by Marta Álvarez Miguéns, published by Sourcebooks. Recent features of Mahani include The New York Times, NPR, CBS Sunday Morning, PBS Newshour, Graydon Carter’s Airmail, the BBC, EFE, MPR’s Performance Today, CNN en Español, Amanpour and Company on CNN and PBS, Gramophone magazine, Good Morning America, a Tiny Desk concert, and more.

Mahani is the winner of numerous international piano competitions and awards including the APES Prize for best classical music performance in Chile (where she performed Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 1 with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile), and the Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition, among others. In addition, she received the Advancement of Women Award from Scotiabank for her leadership and work promoting music on Easter Island, was made honorary VP of the World Indigenous Business Forum in 2017, and was named one of 23 “Chileans Creating Future” who are agents of global change and are creating a better future for Chile and the world.

Making her debut at the age of nine, Mahani joined famed Chilean pianist Roberto Bravo on a series of concert tours. She studied at Austral University in Valdivia (Chile) with Ximena Cabello, with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and with Fabio Bidini at the Hanns Eisler Musik Hochschule in Berlin.

Mahani currently lives on Easter Island, combining concert tours with leading the Music School and motherhood. A Steinway Artist, she was “rediscovered” in 2018, which led to her debut recording, Rapa Nui Odyssey: A Mahani Teave Piano Recital, released January of 2021 on the Rubicon Classics Label to glowing reviews. She embarks on her North American debut tour in September 2023, which includes the Harriman-Jewell Series in Kansas City, grand opening weeks of the Perelman Performing Arts Center in NYC, Washington Performing Arts at The Kennedy Center, Seattle Symphony, Rockport Music (MA), the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Middlebury Performing Arts (VT), Tri-C Series at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and multiple performances in the Hawaiian islands.

Award-winning pianist and cultural ambassador Mahani Teave is a pioneering artist who bridges the creative world with education and environmental activism, and the only professional classical musician on her native Easter Island. Twice topping the Billboard charts with her debut album, Rapa Nui Odyssey, she received raves from critics, including BBC Music Magazine, which noted her “natural pianism” and “magnificent artistry.”

Twice distinguished as one of the 100 Women Leaders of Chile, Mahani has performed for its past five presidents, embassies in over 8 countries, and at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, Chile’s Palacio de La Moneda, and Chilean Congress. Believing in the profound, healing power of music, she has performed globally, from the stages of the world’s foremost concert halls on six continents, to hospitals, schools, jails, and low-income areas.

Setting aside her burgeoning career at the age of 30, Mahani returned home to found her island’s first music school, Toki Rapa Nui, a self-sustaining ecological wonder which also teaches children about renewable natural resources and their quickly-fading cultural heritage.

Mahani’s inspirational story was captured in Emmy-nominated documentary Song of Rapa Nui by fifteen-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker John Forsen (Amazon Prime Video), and in a just-released children’s book, The Girl Who Heard the Music (Sourcebooks). She was recently featured in The New York Times, NPR, CBS Sunday Morning, PBS Newshour, Graydon Carter’s Airmail, the BBC, EFE, MPR’s Performance Today, CNN en Español, Amanpour and Company on CNN and PBS, Gramophone, Good Morning America, a Tiny Desk concert, and more.

Her awards include the APES Prize in Chile, Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition, Scotia Bank’s Advancement of Women Award, “Chileans Creating Future” award, and honorary VP of the World Indigenous Business Forum.

Debuting at age nine, Mahani toured with famed Chilean pianist Roberto Bravo. She studied at Austral University (Chile), the Cleveland Institute of Music (student of Sergei Babayan), and the Hanns Eisler Musik Hochschule in Berlin. A Steinway artist, she lives on Easter Island, combining concerts with leading the Music School and motherhood.