Pianist

Gen Z knows him as “Cateen,” the hip YouTuber and cat enthusiast with more than 1,5 million followers. Behind the social-media star — whose artful clips have racked up over 200 million views — is the Japanese pianist Hayato Sumino, born in 1995. And you can hear him live in the Concert Hall, now for the first time at Lucerne Festival, and marvel at what he can do at the piano. Sumino doesn’t shy away from the toughest virtuoso challenges, including the wild demands of Guido Agosti’s piano transcription of excerpts from Stravinsky’s Firebird. But the idea behind the program matters even more to him: he has built his Lucerne debut around Frédéric Chopin, interweaving Chopin pieces with his own neoclassically styled compositions and improvisations. Works by Thomas Adès and Camille Saint-Saëns also enter this “Chopin orbit” with ease. Teenagers and 20-somethings flock to his concerts — no surprise he recently won the “Opus Klassik” audience award. Yet Sumino is far more than a media phenomenon: he refined his artistry with Jean-Marc Luisada and also studied at IRCAM in Paris.

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Hayato Sumino

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

First performed from memory by Aurora in 2023, The Rite of Spring is one of the most influential pieces of the 20th century. Taking away the music stands allows us to communicate more intensely with each other and the audience, an orchestra breathing as one with no barriers.

The Rite of Spring – International Tour

Berliner Philharmonie

The "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" was the breakthrough for Claude Debussy in 1894, both for musical Impressionism and modern music in general. For a "symphonic poem," the roughly ten-minute work is quite short. It is introduced by an ascending and descending flute melody and becomes the nucleus of the piece. What was new about it was the dissolution of conventional tonality. Debussy was inspired to create this by a Javanese gamelan orchestra he had heard at the Paris World's Fair in 1889, whose music "made our tonic and dominant appear like ghosts."

Expectation

Bochumer Symphoniker

"After the second encore, the hall is in a frenzy," the Abendblatt newspaper observed after Hayato Sumino's brilliant debut in the Recital Hall of the Elbphilharmonie. It was only natural that he would be invited back immediately afterward! And this time, the audience will be treated to a welcome in the Grand Hall of the Japanese YouTube star, who is causing a sensation there under the pseudonym "Cateen." On screen, he delights millions of viewers with his sensitive original compositions and spectacular arrangements of classics like Ravel's "Boléro." He only recently ventured into the "real world," onto international stages—with tremendous success. His first album for the Sony Classical label was also released shortly afterward.

Hayato Sumino / Klavierabend

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

At the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert there was a lovely tradition of the stage being decorated with flowers from the Italian city of San Remo. It is even nicer that the CAMERATA now really makes flowers come to life at its New Year's concerts. Famous floral bouquets such as Mozart's Overture to the opera The Gardener for Love , Tchaikovsky's  Flower Waltz from the ballet The Nutcracker and Johann Strauss's Waltz Roses from the South as well as the Bouquet Quadrille are brought to bloom. The musical floral decoration also includes Lehár's magnificent waltz Wilde Rosen and the immortal melody of Schenkt man sich Rosen in Tirol from Zeller's operetta The Bird Seller in an instrumental version. The Japanese piano "rising star" Hayato Sumino will perform a movement from the piano concerto "Memo Flora" by his compatriot Takashi Yoshimatsu and, together with the Russian violinist and conductor Alexander Sitkovetsky and the CAMERATA musicians, will also allow the immortal melody of the Air Irlandois "The Golden Rose of Summer" to blossom in the setting by the German Romantic composer Ferdinand Ries.

MEMO FLORA New Year's Eve and New Year's Concert – Salzburg's most beautiful end-of-year event

Mozarteum Foundation

More than a pianist, Hayato Sumino is a phenomenon. Known on YouTube as “Cateen,” the Japanese musician has earned tens of millions of views for his captivating interpretations of classical masterworks and original compositions. A semi-finalist at the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition, he has reignited interest in the iconic composer. In his highly anticipated Symphony Center debut, Sumino performs works by Chopin, Bach and Ravel, alongside his own evocative pieces, including New Birth and Recollection.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Pianist Hayato Sumino forged his own path with a YouTube channel under the name “Cateen,” which has gained more than 1.3 million followers and 180 million views. Now a Sony Classical recording artist and an Artist Ambassador for Apple Music Classical, he has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and toured worldwide. This recital spans signature Chopin works and compositions by Ravel, Debussy, Gershwin, Hans Zimmer, and Sumino himself. As a finale, he does the impossible: playing Ravel's Boléro, an orchestral tourde force, on two pianos at the same time.

Stanford University

On October 12, 2025, the OPUS KLASSIK, the most important award for exceptional musical achievements in the field of classical music in Germany, will be presented by the Society for the Promotion of Classical Music non-profit GmbH.

OPUS KLASSIK Gala 2025

Konzerthaus Berlin

With his precise technique and his virtuoso yet sensitive playing, he received standing ovations at his two debut concerts last year at the Rheingau Music Festival. A repeat invitation was therefore a mere formality. Hayato Sumino, better known as "Cateen," is truly an exceptional talent: he composes, arranges, improvises, masters his instrument at the highest level, and also holds a degree in engineering. His videos have been viewed over 176 million times on YouTube – like no other, he bridges the gap between performances on major international stages and the social media world, thus winning over not only classical music lovers as fans as a classical pianist. We are particularly looking forward to this year's guest performance by this young piano talent in the amateur dormitory of Eberbach Monastery, which offers a program that is as varied as it is virtuosic. The focus is on Johann Sebastian Bach, whose works will be related to other compositions this evening.

Hayato Sumino: “Reimagine”

Eberbach Abbey

To witness Dalia Stasevska in concert is to experience pure magic. “Endowed with a magnetic aura, she almost seems to have bewitched her musicians who follow her elegant and precise gestures to the letter. Masterful and electric, we see her come alive with her whole body, right down to her heels which literally take off from the ground, propelled by a sublime force” (Cult Magazine).

Rhapsody in Blue and the "New World"

Hollywood Bowl

Messe Husum & Congress

Leonard Bernstein Award

Sala de Música y Congresos Lübeck

Music for beginnings and endings. It’s hard to find a more famous, or iconically flamboyant first few seconds than the clarinet solo at the start of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. ‘Metropolitan madness’ and a ‘musical kaleidoscope of America’ is how Gershwin described this musical montage of the jazz age.

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra: Gershwin, Bernstein and Strauss

The Bridgewater Hall

Music Director Laureate Marin Alsop leads a larger-than-life program inspired by real heroes and mythical archetypes. As one of his staunch champions, Maestra Alsop brings back James Lee III’s BSO-commissioned tribute to Harriet Tubman, praised by The Washington Post for its “bursts of tonal color.” Prokofiev's lithe and lively Fourth Symphony, initially a ballet depicting the parable of The Prodigal Son, traces a hero's foray into the outside world with vibrant, dance-infused drama. Japanese pianist Hayato Sumino, semifinalist and crowd favorite at the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition, joins the BSO in a thrilling concerto by Chopin, whose ebullient, finger-twisting compositions broke all pianistic conventions.

Alsop Conducts Chopin & Prokofiev

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

The Music Center at Strathmore

CSO + Marin Alsop with Hayato Sumino

Ravinia Festival

New England Conservatory's Piano Department invites the public to join NEC students in exploring the challenges and complexities that pianists face in the world today, through presentations and master classes by guest artists and NEC faculty.

Piano Seminar: A Discussion with Cateen!

New England Conservatory

With Gustav Mahler's Fifth, Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich are continuing their Mahler cycle, which has won acclaim worldwide for its clarity, depth, and precision. Järvi, Music Director in Zürich since 2019, is known as one of the most prominent Mahler interpreters. The Tonhalle-Orchester is famous for its warm sound and lucid playing style – just the right ensemble for Mahler's polyphonic masterpiece.

Mahler Symphony No. 5

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Hayato Sumino first drew international attention at the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition. His performances reflect a deep love for Chopin’s music, as well as a similar passion for other classical works, new music and even improvisation.

Hayato Sumino Presents Chopin Orbit

Southbank Centre

‘If the charge of theatricality in a symphonic work is a valid one,’ Bernstein wrote of his idiosyncratic work for piano and orchestra, ‘I am willing to plead guilty.’

Age of Anxiety

Pianist Hayato Sumino defies easy categorization: a sold-out debut recital at Carnegie Hall, a semi-finalist at the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition, an acclaimed performance at the Hollywood Bowl, and over 1.5 million YouTube followers. A graduate of the University of Tokyo’s prestigious information science program, Sumino has pursued cutting-edge music research at IRCAM in Paris—and that rare fusion of analytical depth and improvisational flair defines everything he plays. Washington Performing Arts is thrilled to introduce D.C. audiences to this singular artist through a program of Chopin, Ravel, and Saint-Saëns alongside Sumino’s own compositions, performed across three instruments—grand piano, upright piano, and electric keyboard—in one extraordinary evening.

Hayato Sumino, piano

Semifinalist at the Chopin Competition, engineering graduate, composer and YouTube star: from the competition hall to the digital stage, he has built a fan base all his own. Named Opus Klassik Young Artist of the Year and soloist of the Live Performance of the Year 2025, Hayato Sumino combines brilliant technique with poetic expressiveness. The extraordinary pianist appears with the Kammerorchester Basel, performing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major.

Kammerorchester Basel: Ravel / Schumann

Gasteig HP8

Internet-famous virtuoso Hayato Sumino first rose to global popularity as a semi-finalist at the 2021 International Chopin Competition, quickly captivating audiences with his technical prowess and musical wit. Reuniting with the Los Angeles Philharmonic after his riveting debut at the Hollywood Bowl in 2025, Hayato performs Chopin’s lush and poetic Piano Concerto No. 1.

Pianist

Hayato Sumino

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 21, 2026

Mahler Symphony No. 5 · Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Nov 29, 2026

Hayato Sumino Presents Chopin Orbit · Southbank Centre

Jan 16, 2027

Age of Anxiety · BBC Philharmonic

Jan 30, 2027

Hayato Sumino, piano · Washington Performing Arts

Apr 15, 2027

Kammerorchester Basel: Ravel / Schumann · Gasteig HP8

Past events

Sep 1, 2026

Hayato Sumino · Lucerne Festival

Apr 20, 2026

The Rite of Spring – International Tour · Aurora Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Piano in Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Piano in Boléro by Ravel

Stanford Live

Piano in An American in Paris by Gershwin

Stanford Live

Piano in Piano Concerto No. 1 by Chopin

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Piano in Jeux d’eau by Ravel

Stanford Live

Piano in Nocturne in C minor by Chopin

Stanford Live

Piano in Scherzo No. 1 by Chopin

Stanford Live

Piano in Partita in C minor by Bach

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in Mazurka by Adès

Lucerne Festival

Piano in Piano Sonata No. 2 by Chopin

Southbank Centre

Piano in Danse macabre by Saint-Saëns

Lucerne Festival

Piano in Clair de lune by Debussy

Stanford Live

Piano in 3 Mazurkas for Piano by Adès

Southbank Centre

Piano in Symphony No. 2 by Bernstein

BBC Philharmonic

Piano in Piano Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninoff

Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival

Piano in Interstellar by Zimmer

Stanford Live

Piano in Nocturne in C Minor by Chopin

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in The Well-tempered Clavier Book II by Bach

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in Les soirées musicales by Rossini

Konzerthaus Berlin

Piano in Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor by Chopin

Lucerne Festival

Piano in Etude in A-flat Major by Chopin

Lucerne Festival

Piano in Nocturne No. 1 by Sumino

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in Nocturne No. 2 by Sumino

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in Nocturne No. 3 by Sumino

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in New Birth by Sumino

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in Recollection by Sumino

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in Prelude and Fugue by Gulda

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Piano in Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G major by Ravel

Bochumer Symphoniker

Piano in Concerto for Violin & Piano by Kapustin

Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum

Piano in Piano Concerto by Yoshimatsu

Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum