Sad News - Korg President Passes Away

US The loss of another industry giant      03/03/25

Sad News - Korg President Passes Away


Sad news that the Korg President and Representative Director Sieki Kato has passed away after an illness.
He was remembered by many as a powerful driving force in first Korg USA then in 2003 - President and CEO.


During these years he earned a deep respect in throughout the company and more widely in the industry, with a bold and adventurous approach to musical instrument development. Being largely responsible for the Workstation category with groundbreaking instruments such as the M1 and O1W, Kronos, and others.

Overseeing the transition to digital technologies and back again to analogue allowing the designers the  freedom to innovate the MonoTron, Volcas, Minilogue and back to digital with the OpSix, WaveState and other recent releases.

Born in Tokyo on March 28, 1957, he was the eldest son of Tsutomu Kato, the founder of Korg.
After graduating from Tokai University's Department of Marine Science and Aquaculture, he
joined Keio Giken Kogyo Co., Ltd. (now Korg Inc.) in 1980.

He worked his way through the organisation, starting in domestic sales, then Product Planning, moving to Korg US where he became President, and worked on expanding the market there. In 2003 he became President and CEO of Korg.

Korg say:

We remain committed to carrying forward his passion and spirit of innovation, striving to create
products that inspire. We sincerely appreciate your continued support.

A new President will be announced in due course.

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