Summer-Festival: Recital Hayato Sumino

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.

Performers:
Hayato Sumino, piano

Program:
“Chopin Orbit”

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20
Etude in A-flat major, Op. 25, No. 1

Hayato Sumino (*1995)
Lydian Harp
Raindrop Postlude

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Danse macabre, Op. 40

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Mazurka in A minor, Op. 59, No. 1
Mazurka in A-flat major, Op. 59, No. 2
Mazurka in F-sharp minor, Op. 59, No. 3

Thomas Adès (*1971)
Mazurka, Op. 27, No. 2

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Etude in G-flat major, Op. 10, No. 5

Hayato Sumino (*1995)
White Keys
Imaginary Polonaise
Improvisation on the ostinato from Frédéric Chopin’s Berceuse in D-sharp major, Op. 57

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Etude in A minor, Op. 25, No. 11

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)
Danse infernale, Berceuse, and finale from the ballet The Firebird, arranged for piano by Guido Agosti

Intermission at c. 20.25

Tickets from 24.03.2026 | 10 am (CET)