Liverpool Phil

As you may be aware, European City of Culture, 2008 is the city of Liverpool, and I posted an entry about one of the sims celebrating this, Mathew Street, a few months ago. For almost everyone familiar with the name, Liverpool is synonymous with at least two things: football and The Beatles. For many it conjures up a host of stereotypes -most of which would incur the wrath of Liverpudlians if reprinted here. But I'm sure it would be a minority who would associate it with Orchestral Music.

The "Phil" in the title of this post refers to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, which is both an orchestra and a great concert hall. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO) is one of the oldest concert-giving organisations in the world, and the second oldest in Britain. The origins of its concert series date back to the formation of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society in 1840. It had to wait until 1957 to pick up the "Royal". In September 2006, Vasily Petrenko became Principal Conductor of the RLPO. Then aged 30, he is the youngest person to hold this post in the orchestra's long history.

The original Hall opened in August, 1849. But this building, once described as 'the best in Europe' by Sir Thomas Beecham, was destroyed by fire in 1933. The present building opened in 1939, and evidently survived the intense German bombing of the city during WWII. Aesthetically, it is built and decorated in an Art Deco style. Now the hall has a digital counterpart in Second Life. In fact, it has even held its first mixed reality event, with a concert back in September, 2007, that was simultaneously streamed inworld. The hall spans 2 sims. The seam of the 2 sims lies straight down the centre of the hall, so that people on the left side are on one sim, while those on the right are on the other. Apart from the hall, with its foyer, concert space and bar, there is nothing else on the sim - which still looks rather "rough-hewn" and unfinished. However, the business end of the build is in working order - and presumably awaiting its next concert. I am somewhat disappointed that there does not appear to have been any further events here in the last 4 months. Here are my images:

If you feel so inclined you might want to compare them with the photos on the Phil's website. You will see how true to the original it is. Alternatively, you can watch a short "making of..." movie here.

Finally, I'm off to the Phil in the not-too-distant to see the Kodo Drummers. Quite looking forward to that!