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Last night I fell down a YouTube rabbit hole thanks to landing on this performance of Bolero by Hayato Sumino. I then proceeded to stay up way too late mainlining his videos. This included not one, not two, but three different performances of Rhapsody in Blue. In my defense, I love Rhapsody in Blue. In my further defense, Sumino's improvisation is a little different each and every time, and I became addicted to seeing where he was going to take it next. The love and joy he has for that piece when playing makes me vicariously happy.

His performance at Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is my favorite of the three. The surprised titters from the audience when he picks up the melodica and his little smile? Delightful. The interweaving of a cell phone ring into his improv? Brilliant. Ugh, the whole thing is amazing.

(the other two are great as well!)

Other Highlights:

Chopin: Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, Op. 11 with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (The fact that my ADHD brain could sit enraptured for 42 minutes is telling.)

Human Universe - one of Sumino's original compositions

Clair de Lune - Unfortunately not a live performance but beautiful all the same

Nocturne I - Pre Rain - another original composition. I love the way he describes it as a gift from the cold sky.

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Photograph of steel spoons and spices in a dramatic setting with added text that gives it the look of a gourmet magazine cover: September 2025. Food & Cooking, at Fancake. Steel teaspoons are arranged in an elogated oval to suggest a fish, with the bowls acting as scales and some of the handles left visible to create the fins and tail, giving the creature a spiky appearance. The concave bowls are dusted with a powdery orange spice for color and one spoon at the front of the fish is filled with a coarse black spice to create an eye. The fish is on a black surface with a rough texture and around it are three skinny green peppers, a mound of salt, a mound of orange spice, and a dipping bowl filled with a clear amber liquid.

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