Hayato Matsuo

	Date of Birth:	August 13, 1968 (Kashiwa)
	Education:	Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
	Musical Influences:	Jerry Goldsmith, ELP, Koichi Sugiyama
	Instruments:	Piano, Guitar, Electone
	Employment:	Imagine (1996 - )
	Game Works:	Ogre Series, Front Mission 3, Master of Monsters

At university, Hayato Matsuo received tuition from Koichi Sugiyama, was involved in the band G-Clef, and participated in the Dragon Quest CD Theater series. Mentored into the game industry by Sugiyama, he scored Master of Monsters, Syvalion's remake, and the Dragon Quest Dai no Daibouken anime scores. He received big breaks with 1993's Ogre Battle and 1994's massive anime project Magic Knight Rayearth. After being scouted by Kohei Tanaka, Matsuo joined Imagine in 1996.

At Imagine, Matsuo has become a prolific cinematic composer. Among the projects he has contributed to are Brave Goldran, Saint Tale, Haunted Junction, Transformers: Armada, Kamen Rider 555, GUYVER: The Bioboosted Armor, Yomigaeru Sora - RESCUE WINGS, and the videos Landlock, Street Fighter Alpha, and Hellsing. In all these projects, Matsuo demonstrated flair for musical representation of visual scenes, creating diverse scores that featured orchestral, vocal, and J-Pop music.

Matsuo has continued to work regularly on games, having since contributed to Let's Smash, Homeland, Shenmue, Panzer Dragoon Orta and the Fuurai no Shiren series in composition and arrangement roles. He is best known for his militaristic compositions on projects such as Dragon Force II, Front Mission 3, Ogre Battle 64, and Final Fantasy XII. Also recently, he arranged the Final Fantasy music featured in the latest Itadaki Street games.