Keiichiro Shibuya
Composer, musician and artist. Born in Tokyo in 1973. Graduated from the Department of Composition at Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2002, he founded the music label ATAK.
His work spans a wide range of forms, from experimental electronic music and piano solo pieces to opera, film music, and sound installations. Based in Tokyo and Paris, he presents his works internationally, consistently exploring fundamental questions surrounding life and death, technology, and the boundaries between humans and machines.
In 2012, he premiered THE END, a vocaloid opera starring Hatsune Miku with no human performers. The costumes for Hatsune Miku were designed by Marc Jacobs, then creative director of Louis Vuitton. The production premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and has since been performed worldwide, primarily across Europe.
In 2017, he presented Scary Beauty at the Palais Garnier of the Paris Opera, collaborating with dancer Jérémie Bélingard and digital artists Adrien M & Claire B.
In 2018, he unveiled the android opera Scary Beauty, in which an AI-powered humanoid android sings while conducting an orchestra. The work toured Japan, Europe, and the Middle East.
In 2019, he presented Heavy Requiem at Ars Electronica, a work combining Buddhist shōmyō chanting with electronics, marking the beginning of an ongoing collaboration with the 1,200-year-old Buddhist vocal tradition preserved at Mount Kōya.
In 2021, he composed the opera Super Angels, commissioned as a new production by the New National Theatre Tokyo. The work brought together androids, opera singers, choir, ballet dancers, and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
In March 2022, he premiered the android opera MIRROR at Expo 2020 Dubai, created in collaboration with Buddhist shōmyō practitioners and a local UAE orchestra. In June 2023, the 70-minute full version was premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, followed by a return performance at Ebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo in 2024.
In February 2025, he released ATAK027 ANDROID OPERA MIRROR, the first album dedicated to an android opera. In March 2025, he presented the solo concert MIRROR Ghost at the Grand Palais in Paris.
In November 2025, he staged ANDROID OPERA MIRROR – Deconstruction and Rebirth at Suntory Hall, with a revival performance scheduled for May 16, 2026, at Festival Hall Osaka.
Alongside his stage works, he has composed music for numerous films. In 2020, he composed the score for Midnight Swan (directed by Eiji Uchida, starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), for which he received the 75th Mainichi Film Award for Best Music and the 30th Japan Film Critics Award for Best Film Music.
In 2022, he composed the music for xxxHOLiC (directed by Mika Ninagawa). More recently, he contributed the main theme and score for NHK’s large-scale documentary series Critical World – ON THE EDGE, produced as part of NHK’s 100th anniversary programming.
In recent years, he has continuously developed the sound installation project Abstract Music, an evolving spatial music work presented in diverse architectural and urban contexts. Installations have been shown at PRADA MODE TOKYO (2023), Milan Design Week with LEXUS BEYOND THE HORIZON (2024), Google Pixel Kyoto (2025), Grand Palais Paris (2025), PRADA MODE OSAKA (2025), and POLA GINZA & AOYAMA, among others. A new presentation is scheduled for the Maebashi International Art Festival in September 2026.
He has also collaborated with numerous global brands including PRADA, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, GUCCI, Google, BMW, and LEXUS, developing projects that cross music creation, performance, and spatial expression.
