Android opera is a new form of opera with an android singer, conceived and composed by international composer SHIBUYA Keiichiro, who works in various genres encompassing cutting-edge electronic music, piano solos, film scores and opera. This work, MIRROR (performed at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris), is based on the collaboration between an android, an orchestra, Buddhist chanting with 1,200 years of history, and electronic sounds that Shibuya unveiled at Expo 2020 Dubai in 2022. The android “Alter4,” which has evolved further since the Dubai performance, joins by French orchestra Appassionato and visual artist Justine EMARD for an international coproduction with new staging and music.¬
Having made remarkable advances, the android does not only sing to music composed by Shibuya but also improvises its own melodies on the spot in response to the Buddhist chanting, with lyrics derived from interpretation of the chanted texts by Artificial Intelligence GPT, which is currently drawing attention worldwide. The android also sings texts with the excerpts from The Possibility of an Island, written by French novelist Michel HOUELLEBECQ and Austrian philosopher Ludwig WITTGENSTEIN’s last work On Certainty.
Visuals created by EMARD, real-time projection of the android onto the screen, and lighting will also be synchronized with the music onstage to immerse the entire theater in sound and visuals. By combining cutting-edge technology with traditional artforms, the work explores a new model for harmony between humans and technology.

Presented by: The Japan Foundation (JF) (https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/)

This work was produced for Japan Foundation’s International Creations in Performing Arts 2023.
https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/project/culture/perform/creation/2023/index.html

＜Performance Credits＞
Concept, composition, piano, electronics: SHIBUYA Keiichiro
Vocal: Android Alter4 (Belongs to Osaka University of Arts)
Buddhist chant “Koyasan Shomyo”: FUJIWARA Eizen, YAMAMOTO Yasuhiro, KASHIHARA Taiko, TANI Hoshin, KAMETANI Shoei
Orchestra: Appassionato
Video creation: Justine EMARD
Android programming: IMAI Shintaro
Android design: ISHIGURO Hiroshi

Orchestration: SHIBUYA Keiichiro
Sound design: SUZUKI Yuki
Production sound engineer: Unisson Design
Light design: UEDA Go
Android real-time projection: KONISHI Kotaro
Stage Manager: OZAKI So
Assistant of Justine EMARD: Bérangère POLLET with the software assistance of Thomas ZADERATZKY
Assistant of production: OGAWA Shigeru
Direction of production: MATSUMOTO Natsumi

Planning and Production: ATAK
Co-Organizer: The Japan Foundation
Organizer: Théâtre du Châtelet, ATAK

Filmed at the Théâtre du Châtelet on June 23, 2023
Film direction: Jérémie SCHELLAERT
Sound mix: François BAURIN
(c) ATAK All Rights Reserved

＜Subtitling Credits＞
English Translation: ATAK
Japanese Translation: SOEJIMA Aya
French Translation: Sylvie DURASTANTI
Spanish Translation: Víctor WEINSTOC