Venue:
Dunston Playhouse
Oct 3rd (fri) 2017 | start 20:00
Oct 4th (sat) 2017 | start 20:00

 

Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater
July 5tn (wed) 2017 | start 22:30

 

DURUB AL TAWAYA THE END on the Beach
Live Version of “THE END” Premiere
Fri 18 Nov 2016 | start 22:30 ~

 

Musikhuset Aarhus
August 26th (fri) 2016 | start 18:15
August 26th (fri) 2016 | start 21:00

 

kampnagel
August 18th (fri) 2016 | start 19:30
August 19th (sat) 2016 | start 19:30
August 20th (sun) 2016 | start 19:30

 

Dutch National Opera & Ballet
June 4th (thu) 2015 | start 20:00
June 5th (fri) 2015 | start 20:00

 

Théâtre du Châtelet
November 12th (tue) 2013 | open 19:30 / start 20:00
November 13th (wed) 2013 | open 19:30 / start 20:00
November 15th (fri) 2013 | open 19:30 / start 20:00

 

Bunkamura Orchard Hall
LOUIS VUITTON Special Stage
May 22nd (wed) 2013 | open 18:00 / start 19:00

May 23rd (thu) 2013 | open 18:30 / start 19:00
May 24th (fri) 2013 | open 14:30 / start 15:00 | open 18:30 / start 19:00

 

Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM)　Studio A
December 1st (sat) 2012 | open 18:30 / start 19:00
December 2nd (sun) 2012 | open 14:30 / start 15:00

 

Addition Stage
December 2nd (sun) 2012 | open 18:30 / start 19:00

 

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SUMMARY:
THE END is an opera birthed out of the collaboration between trend setting spirited young individuals including musician and artist Keiichiro Shibuya, director and script writer Toshiki Okada, and illustrator YKBX. This production does not feature any humans, and replacing all familiar elements of the non-existent singers and orchestras are aria and recitative by Hatsune Miku and Vocaloid, with a story told by computer made music and visuals.
This production tests taking the traditional tragic structure of an opera asking “What is death?” and “What is an end?” and puts Hatsune Miku as the mediator to reread it in a modern way.
Also much talked about is Hatsune Miku’s opera wardrobe, which was designed by Louis Vuitton’s artistic director Marc Jacobs and his studio team.

 

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PROFILE:

 

Keiichiro Shibuya

Musician. Born 1973. BA of Composition, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.
In 2002, Shibuya has established ATAK, a music label releasing CDs of cutting-edge electro-acoustic works by various artists from all over the world.
Amongst the label’s works are Shibuya’s “ATAK000+”, “ATAK010 filmachine phonics”.
His first piano solo album “ATAK015 for maria” was released in 2009. In 2010, he released “Soutaisei Riron + Keiichiro Shibuya: Our Music”.
Shibuya is also acting as the music composer for movies such as “Shinanai Kodomo, Shusaku Arakawa”, “Seiji: Fish on Land”, “Spec: Heaven” and “Memory of Origin Hiroshi Sugimoto”, etc.
In 2012, he released “Sacrifice Keiichiro Shibuya feat. Rina Ota”, “Initiation Keiichiro Shibuya + Hiroki Azuma feat. Miku Hatsune”, and produced the concert “One(X)” in celebration of the 100th anniversary of John Cage’s birth.
Also in 2012 he has unveiled and staged “THE END”, the world’s first vocaloid opera combining imagery and computer music, but not starring any human performers. The performance at YCAM attracted tremendous interest. Also much talked about is Miku Hatsune and Keiichiro Shibuya’s opera wardrobe, which was designed by Louis Vuitton’s artistic director Marc Jacobs and his studio team.
In May 2013, he performed VOCALOID OPERA “THE END” at Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo.
The opera is planned to be held at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris in November 2013.
He participated multiple domestic visual and music projects. atak.jp

 

YKBX

Visual Production. YKBX has participated in numerous films helping with direction and production, as well as helped with illustration, graphic design, etc. He has made several items with the goal of total art production, and been highly reviewed at video festivals and events both domestic and abroad. The music video “Natsu wo matteimashita” by popular rock band amazarashi won the Excellence Award for the Entertainment category at the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival. yokoboxxx.com/

 

Shohei Shigematsu

Architect. Born 1973. Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Partner, Director of OMA New York. His major projects include the CCTV Headquarters and television station, Shenzhen Stock Exchange headquarter building,PRADA SKIRT EXHIBITION DESIGN “Waist Down”, Cornell University’s new building for the College of Architecture, Art and Planning、Quebec National Museum of Fine Arts Annex, etc. He is also currently involved in collaborations with multiple artists including Marina Abramović’s new performance space and Cai Guo-Qiang’s New York home-atelier studio.　www.shoheishigematsu.com

 

evala

Sound artist. President of port, and a member of ATAK. He has released a large amount of bold electronic music, performed both domestically and abroad, and led installations at art museums. Some of his major projects include the CD “acoustic bend” (port/2010) and the installation “void inflection” (YCAM/2011). He uses surround sound systems and cutting edge technology in public spaces, for plays, movies, and advertising media to create various types of sound design. port-label.jp evala.jp

 

PinocchioP

Composer. His first work uploaded to Nicovideo in February 2009 was “Hana uta.” Since then, he has been active by continually making original music, participating in collaborations, and doing live streaming events. The Vocaloids that he uses are Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin. In July 2012, he made his major debut album “Obscure Questions,” released through EXIT TUNES.　pinocchiop.jimdo.com/

 

Masato Tsutsui

VJ, Programmer. With his pioneering approach of using technology to the maximum, he shows through his video productions the positives of having an unchanging constant. He has been involved VJing for festivals such as “METAMORPHOSE”, “SonarSound Tokyo”, “electraglide”, “FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL” and “BIG BEACH FESTIVAL”. adsr.jp

 

A4A

Founded in May 2011 when WOW’s Atsunori Toshi left to create this company. It is well known for its ability to fuse art and technology into a creative production. a4a.jp

 

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INTRODUCTION:
Kazunao Abe
Artistic Director, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Japan

 

“THE END” is the first Vocaloid opera project, an opera without an orchestra or a single human vocalist, constructed from multi-screen 3D images and computer-controlled electronic sound.

 

Its use of 10.2 multichannel sound, through dual-layered 5.1 channels, as well as a cleverly constructed space formed from seven high-luminosity high-resolution projectors and four giant screens, creates unique 3D acoustic and visual effects within the theater space. In the midst of this concert hall turned electronic fortress, the virtual character Hatsune Miku begins her journey by asking herself ‘will I die?’.

 

The only performers who appear on stage are Hatsune Miku, an animal character, and Keiichiro Shibuya, a musician constantly pushing the frontiers of music through his cross-genre work in pop, electronic sounds, experimental music, and sound installations. “THE END” is one of the answers Shibuya has reached through various explorations in his exciting pursuit of the extreme limits of new trends in the world art scene. Using the universal theme of ‘endings’, this piece takes a look at the realities and illusions of ‘life and death’ for people living in modern society.

 

The visual direction for this piece, one of the most important elements, was undertaken by digital visual artist YKBX, world-renowned for his expressive animations. He and Shibuya worked together to produce the entire opera. The script was drafted by producer, playwright, and novelist Toshiki Okada, who has constructed a new methodology based on a thorough knowledge of traditional theatrical techniques. The stage aesthetics were headed by New York-based architect Shohei Shigematsu, while the surround sound program that envelops the theater was the work of sound artist evala. Meanwhile, top creators such as Pinocchio P, popular for their individualistic melodies and lyrics, participated in the Vocaloid programming process. The production was handled by creative production company A4A, long advocates for the fusion of art and technology, and the overall theater space set-up and direction was managed by the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM), where “THE END” was created and had its first performance.

 

The fact that Louis Vuitton’s artistic director, Marc Jacobs, and his team provided the costumes for Hatsune Miku has been a major subject of discussion for this piece. These items were original designs based on the Paris Spring/Summer collection, arranged for Hatsune Miku’s body-type and personality. The digitalized images of Hatsune Miku clothed in an original Vuitton check pattern revealed both a fully contemporary and completely new Miku, as part of this unprecedented special collaboration.

 

This piece makes formative use of the accepted main elements of traditional opera, being the aria, recitativo, and tragic storyline. Though these same elements were often treated negatively, as something to be defeated, in 20th century opera, “THE END” makes use of these canonical elements for their continuity. Using the Vocaloid, Hatsune Miku, in place of a vocalist (voice and body) creates a strange situation leading to an opera, long symbolic of the human-centric world and modern thought, that has no human performers. With the fusion of pre-programmed chords and the flow of real time as its starting point, making free use of the ideas and concepts of media technology for the audio and visuals, this piece aims to dissect and transform opera with the goal of a radically new space/time creation that is neither traditional nor avant-garde.

 

Up until now opera always dealt with human death, creating a situation where the abnormal exertion of life’s greatest energy by a person about to die was essentially linked to sound and acoustics. “THE END” takes note of this habitual format and treats opera as an anthropological mechanism of critique where the distortion of life and death unfolds. A new world emerges from “THE END”, one that escapes from the European anthropocentrism that was conventionally bound to civilization and art, a world that dissolves the boundaries between life and death, public and private, parts and the whole, layer and delineated, human and animal, existence and production. In this world, Miku, who has had a presentiment of her fate, talks with animal characters and degraded copies of herself to ask the age-old questions, ‘what are endings?’ and ‘what is death?’.

 

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Amsterdam
CREDIT:

 

music and concept: Keiichiro Shibuya
mise en scène: Keiichiro Shibuya, YKBX
scenography: Shohei Shigematsu
costumes: Marc Jacobs
video: YKBX
vocaloid-programming: PinocchioP
sound-programming: evala
with: Hatsune Miku
keyboard, computer: Keiichiro Shibuya
producer: A4A Inc., Organizing Committee for The End
commissioned by:
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] 2012
Vocaloid®, Yamaha Corporation
© Crypton Future Media, INC. www.piapro.net
with thanks to: J-LOP+

 

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Paris

 

 

CREDIT:

 

Concept, Music: Keiichiro Shibuya
Starring: Keiichiro Shibuya, Hatsune Miku
Original Book conception: Toshiki Okada
Collaborative direction: Keiichiro Shibuya, YKBX
Visuals: YKBX
Costumes: LOUIS VUITTON
Stage Art: Shohei Shigematsu
Sound Programming: Evala
Vocaloid Programming: Pinocchio P
Sound Engineer: Yoshiyuki Kanamori
Lighting: Masakazu Ito
Technical Support: Masato Tsutsui
English Subscription Supervisor: Alfred Birnbaum, David d’Heilly
Translation Cooperation: Sawako Akune
Hair Makeup: Katsuya Kamo (mod’s hair)
Advisor: Aya Soejima
Stage Direction: So Ozaki
Curating, Supervisor: Kazunao Abe (YCAM)
Production Management: Ayako Watanabe (A4A inc.)
Producer: Atsunori Toshi (A4A Inc.)
Special cooperation: Crypton Future Media, INC.
Media Equipment: KORG
Cooperation: ATAK
Work Commissioned by Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) 2012

 

*VOCALOID is a registered trademark of Yamaha corporation.

 

ill, dir. by YKBX
© Crypton Future Media, INC. www.piapro.net
© LOUIS VUITTON

 

 

 

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Tokyo

 

 

CREDIT:
Starring / Keiichiro Shibuya, Hatsune Miku
Concept / Keiichiro Shibuya
Music / Keiichiro Shibuya
Original Book conception: Toshiki Okada
Directors / Keiichiro Shibuya, YKBX
Visuals / YKBX
Stage art / Shohei Shigematsu
Sound programming / evala
Sound / Yoshiyuki Kanamori
Lighting / Masakazu Ito
Vocaloid programming / Pinocchio P
Technical support / Masato Tsutsui
Programming support / Masanori Takahashi, Kyouhei Yoshida
Stage manager / So Ozaki
Hair and make up / Katsuya Kamo (mod’s hair）
Curating, Supervisor / Kazunao Abe (YCAM)
Production Assistant / Ayako Watanabe (A4A)
Producer / Atsunori Toshi (A4A)
Character design / YKBX

 

Sponsor /”THE END” Executive Production Committee
Production / Bunkamura, Fuji Television, A4A
Cosponsors / Grand Marble Inc. ,LEXUS
Costumes / LOUIS VUITTON
Special cooperation / Crypton Future Media
Media Equipment / KORG
Cooperation / ATAK, precog
Production / A4A
Work Commissioned by Yamaguchi Centor fot Arts and Media (YCAM) 2012

 

ill, dir. by YKBX (C)Crypton Future Media, INC. www.piapro.net (C)LOUIS VUITTON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: KENSHU SHINTSUBO
Courtesy of Bunkamura Orchard Hall

 

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Yamaguchi

 

 

CREDIT:
Concept / Keiichiro Shibuya
Music / Keiichiro Shibuya
Original Book conception / Toshiki Okada
Directors / Keiichiro Shibuya, YKBX
Starring / Keiichiro Shibuya, Hatsune Miku
Stage art / Shohei Shigematsu
Visuals / YKBX
Sound programming / evala
Vocaloid programming / Pinocchio P
Technical support / Masato Tsutsui
Producer / Atsunori Toshi (A4A)
Technical manager / Takayuki Ito (YCAM InterLab)
Stage manager / So Ozaki
Curating, Supervisor / Kazunao Abe (YCAM)
Special cooperation / Crypton Future Media
Costumes / LOUIS VUITTON
Cooperation / ATAK, precog
Production / A4A
Development cooperation / YCAM InterLab
Planning / Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media[YCAM]

 

TRADE PRODUCTION:
Art Directions / Yuni Yoshida
Photo / Shin Suzuki

 

ill, dir. by YKBX (C)Crypton Future Media, INC. www.piapro.net (C)LOUIS VUITTON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: KENSHU SHINTSUBO