A Life in Time with the Piano

He is a young man who is anything but the stereotypical flamboyant virtuoso: calm, thoughtful, almost introverted. And yet he possesses a presence, warmth and ease that immediately carry over to his audience. Hayato Sumino did not become known in the concert hall, but on the internet. Under his stage name “Cateen” – an allusion to his love of cats – he is one of the defining classical music influencers of his generation. At the same time, he has established himself on the classical stage: in 2018, he won the Grand Prix at the PTNA Competition; in 2021, Sumino reached the semi-finals of the world-famous International Chopin Competition. His performance was streamed tens of thousands of times – a record. Today, the newly married 30-year-old moves effortlessly between worlds. He performs with major orchestras, gives sold-out recitals around the world and experiments with sound, form and presentation. His music brings together Baroque and funk, jazz and late Romanticism, film music and improvisation. The result: formats that defy categorization – and reach an audience that would otherwise rarely find its way into concert halls. This season, Sumino returns to Berlin and presents his album “Chopin Orbit” (Sony Classical), which combines Chopin with other composers and his own works.