Floating piano boat named ‘Rachmaninov’ to return to London’s canals

28 May 2025, 10:13

A musical canal boat is set to return London’s waterways.

The concert venue aboard a wide beam canal boat is making its way back to London’s canals this summer following the death of its co-founder.

The Piano Boat – known as ‘Rachmaninov’ – is a floating concert venue and was originally launched in 2021 by couple Rhiana and Masayuki Tayama. They declared that it was a ‘new way of bringing classical music to audiences in and around London’, carrying a Steinway piano and seating for 12 people.

Read more: Watch a Steinway Piano being built in under 2 minutes

Cruises aboard the Rachmaninov ceased in 2023, however, following Masayuki’s death. After time away, Rhiana is relaunching next month, with members of her family working as crew.

“From right after Masa passed away, I knew I wanted to reopen the Piano Boat at some point, I just didn't know when that might be”, she said. “So, I waited until it felt like the right time and it feels really good to be doing it again.

“I started with a different type of cruise, because I didn't want to recycle the same thing with a different musician, and it feels totally new and different, like starting a new chapter of the Piano Boat.”

A Day Aboard The Piano Boat - In Loving Memory of Masayuki Tayama

The couple were inspired to create this innovative venue after a canal boat holiday in 2017, where they had taken a digital piano in order to rehearse for an upcoming performance, and in 2019 commissioned the building of a wide beam canal boat, 12ft wide by 67ft long. They even had their Steinway grand piano painstakingly airlifted through a skylight.

Their upcoming cruises feature pianists such as Jill Morton, Alexander Standing and Joshua Ryan.

Read more: The giant 12-metre violin boat that sailed through the canals of Venice