About
Sam Pomanti is a keyboardist, composer and producer from Toronto based in Tokyo. He works actively as an arranger, session/performing musician, and composer, with such recent credits as arranger, string arranger and keyboard recording for Koshi Inaba (Tadamono [2024, Oricon Weekly Album #1; Japan Billboard Hot Albums Chart #1], 「タッチ」[2026 World Baseball Classic Official Cheer Song], 「果てなき夜を」[2026, 「戦いの向こう 侍たちの記録 2026 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC」 Netflix documentary theme song], RIZAN [2026]、arranger for CAPCOM (CAPCOM FIGHTING COLLECTION [2025]), composer for ROCOCO GAMES (The Perfect Prince), pre-production and a wide array of keyboard/synth recording and drum-programming for INABA/SALAS (Maximum Huavo [2020, Japan Billboard Hot Albums Chart #2], ATOMIC CHIHUAHUA [2025, Japan Billboard Hot Albums Chart #1], composer for GRIN Films (Pink Rabbit, The Whipping Boy, Kill Space, The Funny Thing About Losing Socks).
Sam’s breadth of musical knowledge and varied skillset as a keyboardist, composer, orchestrator, and accomplished student of the Japanese language (JLPT N1) has allowed him to enjoy success performing with a variety of artists around the world.
BANKS, B’z, Koshi Inaba, INABA/SALAS, Bazzi, Kim Mitchell, MISIA, Narita Shouji, NARITA THOMAS SIMPSON, Richard Page (of Mr. Mister), Scott Helman, Michaela May, Johnny Orlando, Anna Sofia, Mike Stern, Ed Sheeran, and more…
Overview
In summer 2019, Sam performed as keyboardist/background vocalist on a 3 and-a-half month, 39-show tour with B’z (Whole Lotta New Love: B’z LIVE-GYM 2019), one of Japan’s most influential bands, and the country’s biggest-selling band of all time. Throughout that same year, Sam handled the pre-production programming, much of the keyboard recording, and some synth bass recording on Japanese-American supergroup INABA/SALAS’s sophomore album Maximum Huavo, which debuted at #1 on Japan’s Billboard Hot Albums chart in April 2020.
As a composer and songwriter, Sam has been steadily adding to his catalogue since his late teens across a wide range of styles. His college band Moonhead released one EP, which Sam handled the rhythm and horn arrangements and composition for, as well as serving as the band’s lead singer and keyboardist. His entirely self-produced artist project Kitsuna has released two EPs, a full-length album, as well as several music videos and standalone singles. In 2021 Sam composed half of the score to a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) documentary on David Suzuki’s enduring The Nature of Things program called Nature’s Big Year, which looked at the positive and negative effects the pandemic has had on ecosystems around the world. He has also composed the scores for four short films (Pink Rabbit, The Whipping Boy, Kill Space, and The Funny Thing About Losing Socks) for Grin Films, a Toronto-based film production company led by director Victor Oly. Pink Rabbit was nominated in the ‘Bucheon Choice Shorts Category’ at South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in 2020.
Sam spent 2022 living in Los Angeles, adding to his composition catalogue through private endeavours and scoring work for short films and music videos as well as performing on several tours for prominent recording artists. He performing keyboards with BANKS on her Serpentina Tour in North America and Europe, and keyboards, electric and bass guitar with Bazzi on his sold-out Infinite Dream Tour. In February 2023, Sam travelled to Japan to perform keyboards at sold-out shows with legendary Japanese singer Koshi Inaba at Yokohama Arena, which were broadcasted live to over 200 theatres around Japan. Shortly after, Sam moved to Japan and now resides in and works from Tokyo, contributing music to video games and short films, writing and arranging songs, and performing as a keyboardist with various artists. Sam arranged two songs, and contributed one string arrangement as well as recording keyboards on seven songs on Koshi Inaba’s album Tadamono which debuted at #1 on Japan’s Oricon Weekly Album chart and rose to #1 on the Japan Billboard Hot Albums chart in July 2024. He joined Koshi Inaba on his following nationwide sold-out arena tour enIV in summer 2024 as a band member.