Hayato Sumino

Hayato Sumino is a Japanese pianist and composer whose rare combination of artistic and intellectual gifts sets him apart in the classical music world. Although he began playing the piano at the age of three, music initially took a back seat to academia: he earned a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Tokyo before pursuing postgraduate research in music information processing and artificial intelligence at IRCAM in Paris. Sumino, born in 1995, first built a devoted online following—numbering in the millions—through his YouTube channel, where he posted home videos of Studio Ghibli and Super Mario arrangements under the alias Cateen. His breakthrough as a classical performer came at the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where his first-round performance captivated audiences and amassed over six million views online. Specialising in the music of Chopin, Sumino is equally at home composing and improvising across genres, an activity he once kept separate from his classical work but now embraces as a defining strength. His Sony Classical debut album, Human Universe (2024), weaves together works by Debussy, Fauré, Bach and Ravel alongside original compositions, while his follow-up, Chopin Orbit follows a similar path with original Chopin alongside improvisations inspired by the Polish composer’s works. Both releases clearly reflect his enduring belief that music, like science, is a search for something genuinely new.