Examining possibilities of vocaloid performers in the most cutting-edge opera currently feasible
Musician/artist Keiichiro Shibuya and stage director Toshiki Okada present a new opera work realized during both artists' residency at YCAM. No human singers or orchestra appear in this piece, but aria and recitativo parts are performed by vocaloid engine, is a singing software application, and video characters instead. In a scenario that progresses without any humans on stage, "The End" from Japan shakes up the human-centered conception of the opera format in Europe, while generating and traversing all sorts of underlying dichotomies in art - life/death, natural/synthetic voice, public/private, part/whole, line/layer, etc. - to make this opera a totally new emotional experience for the spectator.