On 22 April this year, Japanese pianist and composer Hayato Sumino took the stage for his Royal Albert Hall debut, performing with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Ben Palmer. He was appearing as part of a Classic FM Live concert that also featured soprano Rachel Duckett, tenor Freddie De Tommaso and conductor Sir Karl Jenkins, who was celebrating his 80th birthday.

Hayato Sumino. Photo © Ryuya Amao

As he started to play Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, it was business as usual. Then, during a particularly quiet moment in which you could have heard a pin drop, a mobile phone rang.

Ordinarily, this would cause annoyance, but Sumino is far from ordinary. Without hesitation he mimicked the ringtone, seamlessly weaving it into his improvised cadenza.  

In a flash, the incident went viral, helped along the way by Sumino’s 1.4 million YouTube followers who know him as ‘Cateen’. 

However, this wasn’t the only stand-out moment in a performance that could hardly be considered conventional. 

At one point, much to the delight of the 5,000-strong audience, Sumino also picked up a melodica and placed it...