University of Tokyo engineer becomes classical piano sensation

Pianist Hayato Sumino, who will give a recital at Lotte Concert Hall on Oct. 29, holds a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Tokyo. He advanced to the semifinal round of the 2021 Chopin International Piano Competition while still an engineering student at the university. During the competition, he livestreamed his practice sessions and interacted with viewers using YouTube’s live chat. His second-round performance drew as many as 45,000 viewers. At the time, the classical music world largely regarded him as an eccentric who happened to enjoy playing the piano.

Sumino was a top student who attended Kaisei Junior and Senior High School, one of Japan’s most prestigious schools. From an early age, he was immersed in music video games. Even while preparing for university entrance exams, he competed in gaming tournaments. While a student at the University of Tokyo, he researched music information processing at the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music in Paris. In a crowded field, his unconventional activities initially seemed like a gimmick designed to set him apart.

But there was more to it. Sumino approached music itself differently. He incorporated the acoustic conditions of the concert halls into his performances and explored how sound behaved in a space after a key was struck. His identity as a creator stems from an inquisitive mind that probes how sound emerges and fades away.

In 2023, he established a base in New York. He connected with jazz vocalist José James, progressive metal band Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess and singer-songwriter Akiko Yano. By day, he focused on practice and composition; at night, he visited jazz clubs and improvised with unfamiliar musicians. New York became a laboratory where he could move beyond the confines of competition and build a musical world of his own.

The following year, he signed with Sony Classical. A performance at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan drew 13,000 people, and in 2025 he appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York. His solo recital at K-Arena Yokohama was recognized by Guinness World Records for the most tickets sold for a solo piano recital in an indoor venue. More recently, London’s Southbank Centre and the BBC Proms have presented him as a creator with a distinctive musical identity. His drawing power in Japan and across Europe has grown to the point that he has surpassed Bruce Liu, winner of the 2021 Chopin competition, in commercial appeal.

Throughout the 20th century, the classical music star system tended to elevate pianists who could dominate the keyboard, from Vladimir Horowitz to Martha Argerich, but long-standing industry conventions that readily elevated older performers to the status of masters are losing force.

Exploring resonance and reflections, from video game music to jazz improvisation

Sumino’s sensitivity is evident in a conversation with his younger sister Mirai, also a pianist. When she said in a radio interview with him that she had been “afraid” to listen to her own recording through high-end speakers, Sumino brought up reverb — the lingering sound that remains in a space after the original sound stops, as it reflects off walls and ceilings.

He asked whether she had performed while listening to the final reverberation through headphones during recording or whether she had listened to the studio’s natural sound. Wouldn’t the difference affect even her timing and pedaling? The discussion extended to pre-delay, the time gap between direct sound and early reflections. It was another expression of his determination to investigate why sound is heard the way it is.

Since the Chopin competition, Sumino has moved freely across genre boundaries. He has arranged video game music, played compact electronic keyboards, improvised and composed. This hybrid identity, once treated as an anomaly, has become a major competitive advantage. Sony Classical has also marketed him as a musician who combines an arranger’s ear with an improviser’s instincts.

Multifaceted musician reminiscent of Ryuichi Sakamoto

In Sumino, listeners can hear echoes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, the composer and pianist who won an Academy Award for the score of the film “The Last Emperor.” Sakamoto drew on the language of classical music while moving across pop, electronic music, film, visual art and technology. Audiences were curious not only about his next work but also about what might capture his interest next.

When Sumino was dreaming of becoming a full-time musician, he read Sakamoto’s book “How to Be Free in Music” and worked out the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) track “Tong Poo” on the piano while exploring musical ideas. Their affinity is also apparent in their distinctive use of harmony. Sumino favors voicings — the arrangement of notes within a chord according to register and spacing — that create tension with relatively few notes. He reorganizes the lineage of Western music, from Bach through Debussy to Ravel, on his own terms. Sakamoto, too, spent his life exploring the relationship between the strength of a chord and its timbre. The two musicians also share an ability to transcend national labels.

Sumino projects a delicate image, but onstage he unleashes intense energy. His two consecutive recitals at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall in August offered a compelling example.

On the first day, in “Chopin Orbit+,” he revisited Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2, which he had performed at the Chopin competition. He performed the “Berceuse” on an upright piano fitted with felt. After Chopin’s “Raindrop” Prelude, he played his own composition, “Raindrop Postlude.” The same spirit informed his pairing of Chopin’s “Black Key” Étude with his own “White Key” Étude.

The following day’s “Cateen Orbit” offered a clearer picture of what makes Sumino such a draw today. The program was kept secret in advance. He entered from the back of the auditorium playing a melodica, greeted the audience and walked through the crowd to the stage.

His repertoire ranged from Joe Hisaishi to Nikolai Kapustin and Friedrich Gulda. He also took requests, weaving “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” Hisaishi’s “Summer” and Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” into a single impromptu musical sequence. Melodies that had seemed unrelated connected like circuits, illuminating one after another as their contours emerged. The audience was visibly stirred.

At the end, he spotted Ryota Kikuchi, a pianist and friend, in the audience and invited him onto the stage.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.