Keiichiro Shibuya / Hatsune Miku

The World’s first virtual pop opera is an overpowering, spectacular, synesthetic experience and a touching examination of a digital superstar. With over 100,000 songs, more than 170,000 YouTube videos, a large US tour and a worldwide fan community, Japan’s teal-haired Hatsune Miku is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. The only thing that sets Hatsune Miku apart from Beyoncé and company: She’s a 3-D animated character whose songs are composed by her fans. Ever since her release in 2007 with a new singing synthesizer software, people use her digital voice and body and tailor-write songs for her. Keichiiro Shibuya – one of Japan’s best-known young composers, DJs and pianists – is among her fans and he has composed an opera for Hatsune Miku. Using synthetic music and the latest animation technology, it beams the genre into the present. Hatsune Miku is projected, larger than life and in costumes by Louis Vuitton, on a stage-set composed of several projection screens. Shibuya accompanies Miku’s singing live on stage. THE END is an overpowering, spectacular, synesthetic experience – and a touching examination of a virtual, perpetually ageless 16-year-old who longs for death.