The note card distributed to members and patrons began simply and elegantly with, "It is with sadness that we must inform you …" The sadness being attributable to circumstances beyond their control as the owners of the Zurich Opera House, Silelf Fisseux and Ligeia Westwick informed their many friends of the situation they faced and initiated their planning for the move of this venerable SL Institution to a new location.The Zurich Opera House Group is an I-Common, nonprofit SL group and the Opera House is listed as a prime venue in Second Life by Linden Labs.
I arrived at the new site and while waiting for it to rezz, I was greeted by Ms Fisseux.
"Hi, welcome to the opera house. Please come inside Nazz." Silelf said, inviting me into the lobby.
We worked our way through it and then up a short ramp and entered the seating area. Silelf rezzed chairs for us and we sat facing the stage.
"What necessitated the move?" I asked as we made our virtual selves comfortable.
"I was a partner with Meryll Lynch, we owned 3 SIM's together and he didn't pay tier. Well he had the SIM's in his name and has sold them. So Ligeia and I decided to move out and rescue the opera. I gave you a copy of the note card that was sent out in explanation to our many friends and patrons. It's a long story, but we wanted to assure them that concerts at the Opera House will continue. With thanks to kind donations from friends and sponsors we have been able to provide a new island for it." She said in reply. "I'm still waiting for the money from him from the sale of the SIM's but I guess I will wait in vain."
I expressed my regrets for her and Ligeia about the situation and then asked, "How long did it take to move and restore the opera house?"
"It took us a whole week. It was difficult because some of the pieces in the rezzer didn't work well and we had to re-do it twice. The original creator, Noelita Noe also came to help. She was very helpful." Silelf responded.
"How long has the opera house been open and operated as a venue?" I asked
"This November, the 13th, it will be one year since we started having shows. But construction started in August last year." She replied
"It's a lovely build, nicely detailed." I commented and then asked, "What kind of events has been hosted here?"
"The opera besides its usual concerts has hosted competitions, special events and private functions." She said.
"What was the inspiration for the build?" I asked
"This is an interpretation of the Zurich Opera House in RL Zurich converted to SL.
There are two people in the Zurich City Opera House Group that actually work in RL there, and they have approached me to say that they love this building it reminds them of where they work." Silelf replied smiling.
"Yes, I can see how that would be the case. Is there any one special moment in the last year that stands out for you?" I asked her.
"There have been many amazing shows. We have had more than 150 musicians playing in here in the last year. We have topped 90 people in the old SIM and when we did the Oracle event we had 1500 people hooked online. We know this media, SL I mean, is not a media for massive events we stress on quality and culture. We have tried to have musicians from different places; US, Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America, even India and all styles of music from Salsa to classical and our policy is that the singer ought to have at least one song in his mother tongue if not all. The opera is open to all musicians we don't charge them to use the venue we pay them to come here." She said smiling. "As a funny note we have a ghost or phantom for the opera, a guy that walks around dressed up. He is sweet and loves the role play, so he goes around with his mask."
I commented on the global nature of SL and the venue, and then asked, "Do you do all the bookings yourself?
"No, I have a team of people scouting SL for good shows and recommending. I gave you the list of shows in case you want to come to a live event." She replied.
I thanked her for taking the time to meet with me and then asked, "Do have any closing thoughts you like to leave with me?" I asked.
"When I announced that the opera was going to be moved I had from our group of friends nearly 50 IM's from people offering all kinds of help. It was very touching how much people did care about this virtual place. We hope to establish the opera in here and continue growing and enjoying good live music. Ligeia and I are not bitter for having to move we love what we do here and we hope others do to. Life is too short to keep complaining." She responded.
By Nazz Lane
Editors note: Join the Zurich opera group to keep up with news, we will also be sending out weekly notices about upcoming events in the sl-newspaper group
The new location: Zurich City Opera House at Les, Les Nereides (168, 126, 26)
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