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“I want to be a good interpreter of Chopin, but not just that, I want to be like Chopin as an artist," says pianist-composer Hayato Sumino. "I really love, not just his music itself, but also his aesthetics.”
Dario Acosta
Hayato Sumino resists categorization. At age 30, the Tokyo native is an accomplished concert pianist whose 2025/26 season includes recital and orchestral debuts at Carnegie Hall. Also a composer, arranger and improviser, he performs seven original compositions alongside classical repertoire on his latest album, “Human Universe,” his first to be released since signing as an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist in 2024.
Sumino is a popular YouTube creator as well, with more than 1.5 million followers tuning in to his imaginative interpretations of film scores, jazz, pop songs and more. In addition to his musical achievements, he holds a master of engineering degree from the University of Tokyo.
In July 2024, Sumino made his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut at the Ravinia Festival, performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Marin Alsop on the podium. On Nov. 16, he debuts at Symphony Center in a solo recital featuring his own compositions and works by Bach, Chopin, Gulda, Kapustin and Ravel.
In a recent interview, Sumino recalled fond memories of his Ravinia performance. The wooded outdoor setting, with distant sounds of children playing, made him feel nostalgic as he performed the concerto’s serene second movement. “It reminded me of my childhood, and it suits the atmosphere of the piece very well,” he said. “It was quite the inspiring moment.”
His upcoming Symphony Center Presents Piano recital offers Sumino an opportunity to showcase more aspects of his artistry, including several of his own compositions. It’s no surprise that he will perform two pieces by Chopin — the Nocturne in C Minor and Scherzo No. 1 in B Minor — as the Polish composer has been both a personal inspiration and a launching pad for his career. In 2021, Sumino’s performance in the second round of the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition attracted 45,000 online viewers, setting a record for the competition and raising his profile among classical-music devotees.
“I want to be a good interpreter of Chopin, but not just that, I want to be like Chopin as an artist. I really love, not just his music itself, but also his aesthetics,” said Sumino. “He’s such a perfectionist; he wrote every piece very carefully, but at the same time, it sounds like it’s written on the spot. They feel like improvisation.”
With Chopin’s music fresh in his mind after the 2021 competition, Sumino composed two pieces inspired by him: New Birth and Recollection. He performs both pieces on his upcoming recital, along with a trio of original nocturnes based on his experiences traveling the world as a performer.
“When I travel, I often try to improvise on piano, to not forget my inspiration,” said Sumino. His nocturnes originated as voice memos recorded during such improvisation sessions. The first, subtitled Pre Rain, depicts a dark, chilly winter sky that he observed in Seoul, South Korea. After Dawn comes from an early morning at home while recovering from jet lag, and Once in a Blue Moon evokes a clear, starry night in southern France.
In addition to his own compositions, Sumino’s program juxtaposes classical repertoire with jazz-influenced works by 20th-century composers Friedrich Gulda and Nikolai Kapustin. “Jazz has been a huge inspiration to me,” said Sumino. “Classical music and jazz music are often considered to be separate in genre, but actually, they influence each other a lot.”
“What I always want to do is to show the connection between traditional classical music and the modern world we live in now. It’s always interesting for me to find the evolution and connection between now and the past.”
