The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the oldest concert-giving organisations in the world and is second oldest in Britain. The orchestra performs over sixty concerts between September to June in the bright, pleasant, ambience of the Philharmonic Hall. They also present regular concerts at Preston Guild Hall and Blackburn King George's Hall, and make frequent appearances to concert halls throughout the UK. They also perform various concerts around the globe in locations in the USA, the Far East and in Europe.
The Aim
The Royal Philharmonic wanted to expand their audience reach and had identified virtual worlds as the best tool to help them do this.
They were looking at ways to generate media interest and gain publicity and decided to hold a virtual performance in Second Life. They commissioned Second Places to do the work necessary to make this happen as part of an experiment to gauge the benefits of virtual worlds for their organisation - The results of the experiment excelled all expectations!
The Method
Second Places constructed an exact 3D Virtual replica of the real Royal Liverpool Philharmonic hall, designed by architect Herbert Rowse.
They transmitted the opening performance of the 2007 Season live via audio and video links into the Second Life platform. Over 100 people were able to view the performance and interact with other people from all over the world.
After the performance there was an opportunity for the audience to take part in a question and answer session with Conductor, Vasily Petrenko.
The Results
The project proved to be extremely successful generating huge media coverage and recognition at the Big Chip Awards 2008 and the Classic/FM Gramophone Audience Innovation Award 2008.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is delighted with the service which was provided and is continuing to reap the benefits from their relationship with Second Places.
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
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Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
The Second Life project was an experiment for the Phil and it was astonishingly successful, both in terms of the incredible media coverage generated by the event (I don't think the NY Times has ever sent a photographer to a concert by our orchestra!), but also the very encouraging responses we had from our virtual audience. We hope to be able to more fully explore the power of this medium going forward. Working with Second Places made the project seem easy - the staff were very responsive and helpful and worked incredibly hard to make the project work.
Millicent Jones, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
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