CSOradio
CSOradio
Hayato Sumino’s soaring if still young career has been a fascinating tale of two worlds that sometimes intersect and blur.
On one hand, the 28-year-old is a traditional classical pianist who performs familiar works like Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26, Coronation, as he will Sep. 7-19 during a concert tour of Japan with conductor Marin Alsop and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
On the other, he is “Cateen,” a YouTube keyboard sensation, gaining more than 1.25 million subscribers and 100 million views. In this context, he performs classical works, his own compositions and arrangements like his version of a Pokémon battle theme on a 32-key electronic keyboard.
Ravinia Festival audiences will get a taste of the former July 21 when Sumino joins Marin Alsop, Ravinia’s chief conductor, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 — a concert that will be both his Ravinia and CSO debut.
The Japanese pianist has had a close association with the Polish composer since his 2021 participation in the famed International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He only made it as far as the semi-finals, but, in his case, it didn’t matter. His performance in the second round gained 45,000 on-line viewers, setting a record for the competition and gaining him widespread attention.
“Of course,” he said via email, “I was disappointed right after I heard the result and couldn’t think about it for several weeks. However, the experience and recognition I gained there had a greater impact than I had expected. Until then, I had hardly performed outside Japan. This competition was definitely the starting point of my international career.”
In 2022, he released Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1, an album with Alsop, with whom he has performed the work 11 times, and the Polish National Symphony Orchestra. Aside from his work on YouTube, the release was his first recording with an orchestra. “I have a painful memory of not being able to perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in the final of the Chopin Competition,” he said. “So, performing this piece with a Polish orchestra held special meaning for me, and I was eager to record it when it was decided that I would be touring with this piece. Recording it allowed me to put a period on that chapter of my life.”
“I have a painful memory of not being able to perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in the final of the Chopin Competition . . . so, performing this piece with a Polish orchestra held special meaning for me, and I was eager to record it when it was decided that I would be touring with this piece. Recording it allowed me to put a period on that chapter of my life.”
Born in Tokyo, Sumino began taking piano lessons when he was 3. He pursued the instrument intensely and took part in youth competitions. “Even now, I’m not certain if I have talent, but playing the piano has always felt very natural to me, almost like a native language,” he said. But he developed other interests as a teenager and went on earn a master’s degree in 2020 from the University of Tokyo’s School of Information Science and Technology.
During his university years, he was uncertain of his career path. In 2018, he won the grand prize at the 42nd PTNA Piano Competition in Japan, which allowed him to take his first steps as a professional performer. “However, it took me two [more] years to finally decide to be a full-time musician and give up becoming a researcher,” he said.
But even now, his background in math and science continue to influence his artistry. The pianist noted, for example, that knowledge of the former helps with an understanding of music, when it comes to complex elements like equal temperament (a tuning system) and harmonic overtones. He is especially interested in the growing effects of artificial intelligence on the music world, believing its effects might be contrary to what some might first suppose. “Though recording technology and computer music have been around for a long time, I personally think that the development of AI will lead to a return to live performances (it sounds paradoxical),” he said.
Sumino has been posting performances on-line since he was in middle school. “It was purely for fun, driven by my curiosity and enjoyment. Back then, I never imagined I would gain this much popularity,” he said. But when the COVID-19 shutdown came along in 2020, he threw himself into his Cateen posts on YouTube. “I could upload whatever I liked and experiment with various musical ideas, interacting with viewers through the comments section. This format suited my musical style, which values creativity,” he said.
His two personas as traditional classical performer and YouTube sensation came together in 2020 on his first album, Hayatosm. It combined his own short works, piano selections by Chopin and his arrangements of works by Liszt and Chopin. “There were not many people doing such things,” he said, “so I was afraid of how people would react to it, but it turned out to be generally well received. The album is a homage to composer-pianists of the 19th century like Chopin and Liszt, filled with respect and admiration.”
In March 2024, Sony Classical, one of the field’s largest and most important labels, signed Sumino to an exclusive recording contract. His first release under that imprimatur will be released this fall, and according to Sumino, it will be themed around the universe and will mix works by him with those of such famed composers as Bach, Fauré and Purcell.
In the meantime, Chicago-area audiences can see Sumino in action live with the CSO at Ravinia. “I am very excited to collaborate with such a prestigious orchestra,” he said, “and to reunite with Marin!”
