Crossing Rachmaninoff

We don’t choose the music, the music chooses us.

– Flavio Villani's mentor Matteo Napoli

The film is about following a dream when it’s really hard, when you have to question yourself and keep on going. That was Flavio doing the concert, that was Rachmaninoff writing the piece, and to be honest, that was me making the film.

– Director Rebecca Tansley, in Metro magazine, 10 July 2015

Villani is instantly likable and engaging ... The film is) as much a delight for the senses as it is emotionally compelling.

– Anthony Robins, reviewing the film on website The Spectator, 14 July 2015

It was huge that he was going home to do it, sort of showing his family, ‘This is who I am now, this is where I’ve got to,’ after growing up in the Italian south in the 80s, where being a pianist just wasn’t considered an option.

– Director Rebecca Tansley on the challenges Villani faced, Metro magazine, 10 July 2015

Flavio is ... he's very precise about everything, like, it needs to be right and there's lots of work to make something right.

– One of Flavio's piano students on his teaching style

Flavio's a little bit suspicious of religion, and there's a reason for that — he comes from Italy, and Italians are suspicious of religion because there's so much of it in their culture, and so much of it doesn't really connect ... and I'm kind of suspicious of high-brow musicians.

– Reverend Stan Stewart describes his and Flavio's initial mutual suspicions

He doesn't just focus on the music itself. He focuses more on the understanding of music.

– Another of Flavio's piano students on his teaching style

This is the first piece where I finally clicked with the music. I always felt it was too hard and the fact that I started practising the first movement, it was for me a big breakthrough. It was like saying, OK maybe I can be a pianist.

– Flavio Villani on Piano Concerto No. 2