Robert Symons ~ Tropicana Steel Pan: Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Robert Symons-Steel Pan Soloist and Recording Artist from Bermuda.

The story of Robert Symons is interesting and moving. In what was to become a lifetime pattern of diligence and dedication, he set out to teach himself the instruments of his profession at a very early age.

This renowned steel pan soloist and recording artist from the Island of Bermuda currently has three CDs available titled Tropicana Steel Pan Bermuda Vol. 1, 2 & 3.

On these three volumes of easy listening compositions, he works his way through the history of pop music with panache, style and gracefulness.

The recordings feature robert' eclectic style and approach with modern music hits, utilizing all the tools known within the genre...That memorable once in a lifetime cruise you took, someone's special wedding reception, or memories of walking on a pink sandy beach in the Bermuda sun will come to mind.

This music is a one-way ticket to your own personal paradise.
Soothing * relaxing * easy listening popular favorites and classic standards set the perfect tone and ambience to complement Any occasion!
Available at www.cdbaby.com/symons

Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck

Tourism hopes Robert's good deed sparks interest in Island
By Tricia Walters
--------------------------------------Bermuda’s reputation for honesty has spread across the “pond” and the Island’s tourism department in New York are using a recent article in The Royal Gazette to boost the Island as a tourist destination.
The article published earlier this month told the story of Tropicana steel pan musician Robert Symons who had found a credit card lying on the ground at Hamilton’s bus terminal.
Without a second thought he embarked on a private mission to find its owner and return it – and succeeded.
It turned out the credit card belonged to North Carolina visitor Sandra Keefe, who had no idea she’d even lost the card until Mr. Symons called her at the St. George’s Club the following morning.
Mrs. Keefe told the newspaper that Bermudians should be proud of people like Mr. Symons.
“It’s not everyday, or in any other country, where you would find someone this honest,” she said. “You should be proud!”
A very humble Mr. Symons, who has been volunteering his musical talent at the airport for some eight years, said he just wanted Mrs. Keefe to have a “true Bermuda experience”.
The story was snatched up by Mary Ramsey from the New York offices of Bermuda Tourism, who was eager to speak to Mr. Symons and use the story in boosting the Islands’ reputation in the US.

A man every Bermudain should be proud of
By Tricia Walters
--------------------------------------When an American tourist lost her credit card in Hamilton last week, she never dreamt it would be returned to her, but one honest Bermudian proved her wrong.
American tourist, Sandra Keefe, from North Carolina, was boarding a bus to St. George’s late on Wednesday night when she accidentally dropped her credit card at the bus terminal.
When she arrived at the St. George’s Club, she had no idea that back in Hamilton, Robert Symons had found the card lying on the ground and was about to embark on a private mission to find her and return it.
Mrs. Keefe said she had no idea she had even lost the card until Mr. Symons called her. “I have no idea how he found me, but he must have done some good old detective work,” she said.
She said he had left the card at the Police station at the Bermuda International Airport so that she wouldn’t have to travel back to Hamilton to get it.

Mrs. Keefe, who was due to fly home on Saturday, said Bermudians should be proud of people like Mr. Symons. “It’s not everyday, or in any other country, where you would find someone this honest,” she said. “You should be proud!”
A very humble Mr. Symons, a Tropicana steel pan musician who has been volunteering his services at the airport for some eight years, said he just “did the right thing”.
“I saw the card lying there and picked it up. When I saw the expiry date was only next year I knew that just wasn’t right so I thought I’d try and find her,” he said.
He knew she had to be staying in St. George’s because the card had been lying at the St. George’s bus stop and called the St. George’s Club. “She was there. It was amazing luck,” he said.
Mr. Symons said he just wanted Mrs. Keefe to have a “true Bermuda experience” when he decided to go the extra mile to return the card. “She asked me to dinner, but I declined. I just want her to enjoy what’s left of her holiday and go home knowing that Bermuda is a great place,” he said.
Although, laughing, he added that he hoped she would at least buy one of his CDs before leaving.
Mr. Symons accompanied the Bermuda Regiment to Germany recently during the Bremen Music Festival and also represented the Island in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

As a member of the Bermuda contingent at the 2003 Edinburgh Tattoo, and the lone steel pan soloist, Robert Symons did his homeland proud as he performed before thousands on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle each night for three weeks, and to millions on television.....
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By Nancy Acton
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He speaks softly, moves quietly, and by his own admission is “a very private person”. Yet Robert Symons has more than made his mark on the entertainment scene both as a bass guitarist and, in recent years, as a steel pan player.He has worked with, and for, the rich and famous both here and in many countries abroad, and as a professional musician is both well respected and sought after.
In fact, it could be said that “Robert Symons is everywhere” because his ‘Tropicana Steel Pan~Bermuda’ CDs are regularly played on all local radio stations and in public places island wide and on www.wholewheatradio.com which is a satalite radio station that broadcasts from Alasks to a listening audience world wide and that is in addition to his live performances both in Bermuda and internationally.
So what is it that makes this man and his music so popular?
As always, the answer must be subjective, but certainly the fact that he is a quiet artist who lets his music speak for him; that it is beautifully performed, has universal appeal and sits gentle on the mind, are parts of it.
While both his mother and grandmother played piano, it was not until his grandmother gave him a guitar for Christmas at age nine that Mr. Symons’ own interest in music began. In what was to become a lifetime pattern of diligence and dedication, the boy set about teaching himself the instrument. The more he tried the more he progressed and the better he became.
“It was just something that felt natural to me, so I picked away and it just took,” he says.
With his school days behind him, Mr. Symons entered the commercial world, working in the business community but always music ran like a thread in the background.
“I played guitar in garage bands, and it was kind of cool because nights and weekends I would be with my friends playing music,” he says. “Music was ever-present, but it hadn’t really surfaced.”
One day Mr. Symons decided to break out and form his own group, but it seemed that he always had trouble keeping bass guitarists, so he fixed that by becoming one himself.
“The E, A, G, D strings are the same on both a regular and bass guitar, so it wasn’t too difficult to switch because I didn’t have to worry about the two extra strings the regular guitar has,” he says. “I was playing in a group with Ronnie Lopes and Kevin Fitzsimmons, and Jimmy O’Connor came by after his group disbanded and he was putting together a new band. So, in addition to Ronnie, Kevin and myself, he had Dennis Fox and Phil Flowers’ former guitar player, Leyland Hicks, and we were came out as ‘New Happening Bda’ in 1976. I arranged all the music that we performed including the vocal harmonies. That just came naturally to me.”
The new band was a great success and fulfilled regular gigs in all of Bermuda’s top hotels. In time, however – as he would do several times throughout his long career – Mr. Symons left the Island to grow, both as an individual and artistically.
“I knew there was a world out there and Bermuda was a part of it, but it was not enough,” he says.
He settled in New York, and highlights of the years spent there included working in the orchestra of the Actors Conservatory Theatre, performing all over Westchester county in such productions as ‘Godspell’, and ‘Guys and Dolls’. Because he could not read music, he based his survival on his standard modus operandi: self-help. Spending hours in the public library, he listened to recordings of the music and memorised it perfectly.
Later, Mr. Symons played with a top 40 cover/ road band whose circuit included the US east coast and St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where he ultimately joined the club band, Zanzibar, playing at the Frenchman’s Reef hotel. When this band went out on its own, the Bermudian joined them and returned to Baltimore, where 12-hour rehearsals filled their days for a month, until their first gig took them back to St. Thomas and the Frenchman’s Reef. For the next three years, Zanzibar’s circuit included not only St. Thomas but also most of the US southern states, and its east coast.
“It was new, different, and I was seeing a new town every day and meeting new people all the time,” Mr. Symons remembers.
In 1983, the Bermudian bassist decided it was time to come home. For a time he “subbed” with Tino at the Hamilton Princess, became part of the Joe Wylie Trio, playing in the back-up band for Greg Thompson’s ‘Follies’. Sunday nights found him playing rock ‘n’ roll first at the White Heron and then at the Ram’s Head and the Wharf Tavern.
After three years with Mr. Wylie, Mr. Symons struck out on his own, forming the trio Robert and Friends, with Milt Robinson and Peter Profit, and playing at the Bamboo Lounge. From time to time the line-up changed because its leader “wanted to play with everybody, and wanted something fresh and new all the time”. Thus it was that many of Bermuda’s best-known musicians, and even some off the cruise ships, added to the mix.
In addition, Mr. Symons played dinner music in the trio ‘Cantabile’ at the Castle Harbour Hotel with Adrian Ridgeway and Shelton Bean, and also in another trio playing in the Windows on the Sound restaurant at the Southampton Princess Hotel with Howard Lee and Kenneth (Tokey) Dill. Occasionally, Mr. Wylie joined them.
“It was cool to wear all those different hats,” Mr. Symons recalls. “I could fit in anywhere. I knew all the tunes and how to play them as they were supposed to be played.”
When in 1990 he got an invitation to play on the Horizon cruise ship he did not hesitate, spending half a year in the Caribbean.
Returning home for the summer, he decided it was time, once more, to spread his wings, so he returned to St. Thomas, ostensibly for six months, but wound up staying seven years, playing in Blackbeard’s nightclub with such “really, really good” headliners as jazz vocalists Ronnie Wells and Rebecca Parris, and Giacomo Gates. Appearing regularly at the famous Barnacle Bills rock and roll club. Performing with Jazz Harpist Micheal O'Shiver in St. Thomas and Puerto Rico and with legendary painists Dorothy Donagan and Dave Bruebeck among other highlights.
In addition, he was the bass player with many steel pan duos.
“There were many of these in St. Thomas and St. John, where I also lived, and there were four gentlemen who really inspired me,” he says. “I figured it was time to make a change. If you want to stay in music you should know at least two instruments, one of which should be the lead instrument. That way you will never be out of work.”
With this reasoning the talented Bermudian borrowed a steel pan from a friend, took it home, and started to “find his way around it”. Just as he had done all those years ago with his first guitar, Mr. Symons set to with a will and for the next six months practised for hours on end.
“I approached it as a job. I would hop on that pan at 8 a.m., break for lunch, play all afternoon, break for dinner, and then practice again until 11 p.m. at night,” he remembers. “There was one guy in particular that fascinated me. He played pop music whereas most guys played calypso. He played tunes I knew so I said, ‘ Maybe I can sequence background music on a sequencer (a machine that music is programmed into). My concept was to have a pan and sequenced music tracks which included all the instruments.”
An unexpected gig on a cruise ship gave Mr. Symons more time to practice with a sequencer, and by the time he came ashore he felt ready to “go public” with his newly-developed talent. Soon he was hired by the Café Sito restaurant in St. Thomas, where his lunchtime music also filtered out into the streets.
One day it attracted a familiar face from Bermuda: his kindergarten teacher, Frances Taylor.
To be sure it was her, Mr. Symons played ‘Bermuda is Another World’ and sure enough it got her attention.
“I went over to her and we talked. It was so nice to see somebody from home that you hadn’t seen for a very long time ,” he says.
After that, it was time to come home because I had played in just about every venue possible in St. Thomas and St. John and had made a good name for myself. I had played with a host of people, and I realised that I had a product which I could bring back to Bermuda and launch.”
Hardly had he returned in 1997 than Mr. Symons was hired by Toby Dillas of the Department of Tourism to play on promotional tours. From there his success as a solo steel pan artist has grown by leaps and bounds, and he is a popular favourite with both private clients and the corporate sector, performing both here and abroad at private functions and conferences. He has also travelled extensively playing on cruise ships.
Talented as he is, however, Mr. Symons does not sit at home waiting for the phone to ring. Instead, he believes in self-promotion.
“Like anywhere else in the world, you have to market yourself. I still have to get up in the morning and make it happen. The advantage here is that it is a small island and people get to know you.”
In addition to word-of-mouth, the steel pan player’s three CDs, ‘Tropicana Steel Pan Bermuda’, Vols. I, II, lll, also boost his busy career because they are played island and world wide. He has also been a volunteer performer at the Bermuda Airport departure lounge.
“Thinking outside the box, it is not always about money, the benefits are numerous,” he says. “I have been paid in so many other ways, the absolute highlight of which was being invited to participate in last year’s Edinburgh Military Tattoo.”
Even now, Mr. Symons still pinches himself to believe that he really was in Scotland, in the spotlight as a solo artist, proudly representing the Island he loves, and seen by millions around the world on television.
Nor will he ever forget the special welcome Bermuda laid on for himself, the Bermuda Regiment Band and the gombeys, after their aircraft landed.
“Everybody went out of their way to show us just how appreciative they were, and how proud they were that we went out there and did something so special.”
A letter from Brigadier Jameson, chief executive and producer of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, is also cherished. He described the solo an player’s performance over three weeks as “faultless”, and commended him for his “professionalism and commitment as a ‘main player’ at the most successful 2003 Tattoo”.
Certainly, Mr. Symons will never forget his birthday on August 16 in Edinburgh. His fellow Bermudians surprised him with a cake and sang and played ‘Happy Birthday’ to him before the night’s performance, and as it ended, with the fireworks going off behind Edinburgh Castle, he thought with wonder, “This is my birthday and I am in Scotland for the very first time, and in this international mix.”
As for the future, Robert Symons is thinking of moving abroad again for a while, hopefully to fulfil his dream of becoming a headliner act himself.
“The only limits we have are the ones we put on ourselves, so I guess the sky is the limit,” he says.
Asked what advice he would give to aspiring young musicians, he says: “Find your own base. When you can say, ‘I know’, people pick up on that. When you play with conviction people pick up on that. Don’t let anybody push you around or take advantage of you. You learn that as you go along. It’s not for anybody else, it’s for you. Don’t give up.”
Mr. Symons website is www.tropicanasteelpan.com

Best of the Best to represent Bermuda

Bermuda hopes to make 100,000 new friends at a world-famous German music festival to be held at the end of this month.
The Bermuda Regiment Band & Corps of Drums, the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band, steel pan soloist Robert Symons and the Bermuda National Gombey Troupe have been invited to participate in the Bremen International Music Festival 2005, otherwise known as Musikschau der Nationen in Bremen, Germany with all transportation expenses paid.
The Festival is known as one of the most prominent indoor brass band music events in Europe. Since it began in 1965, dancers, singers and folklore groups from more than 70 nations have performed before an audience counting more than 963,000 spectators.
A total of 56 Bermudians will leave the Island for Germany on January 25. Over a period of eight days they will perform in seven shows. In each show they will get ten to 15 minutes of performance time and will also participate along with other countries in the festival?s opening and closing ceremonies.
?We are really going there to make friends for Bermuda,? said Bermuda Regiment Director of Music Major Barrett Dill. ?At those shows they are expecting well over 100,000 people and of course all the television rights after that. Bermuda should be very well on the map.
He said this was a fine way to bring attention to the 40th anniversary of the Bermuda Regiment and 500th anniversary of Bermudas discovery by Juan de Bermudez.
?It is important that we show all of the diverse cultures of Bermuda,? he said. ?We are hoping that from the international point of view potential visitors will say Bermuda has been around for 500 years, it is about time we visited that island?.?
Major Dill said it was heartening that all transportation expenses were being paid by the festival organisers.
?It is a tribute to the show that they had invited us to the show with all-expenses paid,? he said. ?This is the first time in our history that an organisation that has asked us to perform has actually said that they would be responsible for transportation.
?Normally, it is up to the Bermuda side to come up with the financing. We were a little bit wary about that, but it was under the guise that there may be other expenses that we hadn?t anticipated when we get there.?
During the festival there will be a Bermuda booth with lots of brochures and giveaways to promote Bermuda. The Bermuda National Gombey Troupe also promises to be a popular attraction.
?The gombeys are always a huge draw, said Major Dill. They are going to go around the hall performing and handing out fliers on Bermuda.
The captain of the Bermuda National Gombey Troupe, Andre Place, said it promised to be a good experience for his gombeys.
I know it will be cold over there, he said with a laugh. Gombeys in the Bermuda National Gombey Troupe were selected from different gombey troupes all over the island. They represent the best of the best.
We are definitely ready to go, he said.
David Frith, Pipe Major of the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band was also excited to be going, particularly since the band celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The Bermuda Islands Pipe Band were a popular sight at the Nova Scotia Tattoo held a few years ago.
?In 2003 when the Regiment went to the Edinburgh Tattoo, we were not included, which I think was a big mistake on behalf of the people from the tattoo, said Mr. Frith.
He said sometimes the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band players felt their accomplishments were overshadowed by the activities of larger bands.
?In Nova Scotia, I thought the response to our performances was brilliant, he said. We not only performed dressed in our formal attire, but we also did our own little ninety minute show dressed in Bermuda shorts. We played Calypso on the bagpipes. That went over quite well because there is no other pipe band in the world that does calypso.?
He said songs like ?All Day, All Night Mary Ann? were always a novelty when played on the bagpipes.
Mr. Frith ? who has been with the band since he was 13 admitted that it is becoming harder to get fresh blood into the band.
?It is a little bit more difficult now to get new members than it use to be, because all the kids in school have other outlets and musical instruments are rampant throughout the schools, he said. When I was young this wasn?t so.
Bermudians who were unable to travel to Germany for this musical event will be able to see it on television thanks to the efforts of Panatel VDS Ltd. Multimedia who will be recording the Bermudian performances.
We started this initiative when my husband Reimar and I had the pleasure of viewing the Musikchau Der Nationen in Germany, and thought how great it would be if Bermuda could be represented one year,? said Wendy Fiedler of Panatel. We recommended the participation of the Bermuda Regiment Band to the organiser, Rolf Reimers.
Mr. Reimers is the head of the German War Graves Commission. Money raised from the Festival goes to maintain war graves all over Europe.
?We sent him video footage of the band performing at Beat the Retreat ceremonies on Front Street that was shot by Panatel, and he was excited and issued a formal invitation for Bermuda to participate in 2004, said Mrs. Fiedler. Unfortunately, the band was already committed to Edinburg in 2003, and 2004 was too soon, so the invitation was accepted to perform in January 2005.

The History of the Steel Pan

The steelpan was born in the Caribbean Island of Trinidad around the 1930's. African descendants, as a form of musical expression, started pounding out rhythms and harmonies on various pieces of metal. Traditional African skin drums were forbidden in Trinidad at this time and the tamboo bamboo bands were soon outlawed so they were searching for innovative ways of making music to accompany the people's songs and dances at carnival time. Many people believe that the steelpan is the only acoustic musical instrument invented in the 20th century, however HermanWinterhoff, of the Leedy Manufacturing Company, invented the early vibraphone around 1920 and the J.C. Deagan company also came out with a similar instrument the "vibraharp+" a few years later. The steelpan is in my opinion however, the most significant acoustic musical instrument invented in the 20th century and possibly the only "family" of instruments invented in the 20th century.

THE STEEL DRUM OR PAN IS A UNIQUE INSTRUMENT, AND ONE OF THE MOST RECENTLY INVENTED. IT IS A SKILLFULLY HAMMERED 55 GALLON OIL DRUM WHICH HAS BEEN CAREFULLY TUNED TO PRODUCE TONES. THE STEEL DRUM CARRIES A FULL CHROMATIC RANGE OF NOTES AND CAN PRODUCE JUST ABOUT ANY TYPE OF MUSIC YOU CAN THINK OF.
AROUND 1946 WINSTON ‘SIMON’ BLAKE USING A SMALL OIL DRUM DEVELOPED A 14 NOTE PAN THAT CAUSED A SENSATION WHEN HE PLAYED IT DURING THE FIRST CARNIVAL HELD IN TRINIDAD AFTER THE CELEBRATION WAS BANNED AT THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR TWO. THE INSTRUMENT WAS QUICKLY CPOIED BY OTHER MUSICIANS AND TRINIDAD’S RHYTHM DRUM BANDS EVOLVED INTO MUSIC BANDS.
ELLIE MANNETTE ONE OF SIMON’S FRIENDS BEGAN USING DISCARDED 55 GALLON OIL DRUMS WHICH HE HAMMERED CONCAVE, TRIMMED AND HEATED TO MAKE THE METAL STRONGER AND MORE ABLE TO RETAIN NOTES IN TUNE, AND THEN HAMMERED THE UNDERSIDE TO CREATE CONVEX NOTES ON THE CONCAVE SUFFACE. BY 1947, HE HAD PERFECTED A DRUM WITH TWO OCTAVES OF A DIATONIC SCALE AND PANS WITH CHROMATIC SCALES WERE SOON DEVELOPED.
IN 1951 THE TRINIDAD ALL PERCUSSION STEEL ORCHESTRA ( TAPSO) A GROUP OF 10 ALL STAR PAN MEN THAT INCLUDED BOTH SIMON AND MANETTE WAS SENT TO REPRESENT TRINIDAD AT THE FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN IN LONDON. THE GROUP NOT ONLY PLAYED CARIBBEAN MUSIC BUT CLASSICAL SELECTIONS AS WELL. THE EVENT PUT PAN ON THE WORLD MAP AND THE GROUP TOURED ENGLAND AND FRANCE AND PLAYED ON BBC RADIO AND TELEVISION.
TODAY, STEEL BANDS HAVE FROM FOUR TO TEN PLAYERS. SOME ARE ORCHESTRAS WITH MORE THAN 300 PANS SPANNING FIVE OCTAVES FROM SINGLE TENOR OR SOPRANO PANS OF 24 TO 27 CHROMATIC NOTES TO SETS OF NINE BASS PANS OF THREE NOTES EACH PLAYED BY A SINGLE PERSON. STEEL BANDS PLAY MUSIC FROM CALYPSO TO JAZZ TO BEATLES AND BACH. A GOOD CHROMED TENOR PAN COSTS AROUND $750 AND A FULL ORCHESTRA CAN COST MORE THAN $60,000. MOST OF THE LARGE STEEL BAND ORCHESTRAS HAVE CORPORATE SPONSORS.
TODAY THERE ARE MORE THAN 190 STEEL BANDS IN TRINIDAD AND OVER 800 STEEL BANDS WORLD WIDE.
THE ESSO STEEL BAND CAME TO BERMUDA IN THE 1950’S AND WERE CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE TOP TOURIST ATTRACTIONS ON THE ISLAND. THEY THRILLED AUDIENCES WITH THEIR STEEL PAN CALYPSO MUSIC AND SELECTED CLASSICAL PIECES BEAUTIFULLY ARRANGED FOR STEEL PAN. IT BLENDED EXQUISITLEY THE CULTURE OF THE CARIBBEAN, AFRICA AND EUROPE.
ALTHOUGH BERMUDA HAS VIRTUALLY NO EQUIVALENT AT ALL TO CARIBBEAN MUSIC, IT DOES NOT LACK IN POETS WHO CAN WRITE GOOD UNIQUE LOCAL WORDS THAT GOOD LOCAL MUSICIANS COULD PUT TO MUSIC IF THEY WERE GIVEN SOME INCENTIVES TO WRITE MUSIC TRULY FROM BERMUDA IN EVERY WAY

Marching to the Pinnacle

Members of the Bermuda Regiment Band and Corps of Drums, the National Gombey Troupe and Steel Pan Soloist Robert Symons show their stuff at Warwick Camp prior to departing for Scotland where they will be among 1,000 participants in the famed Edinburgh Tattoo.
Steel pan soloist Robert Symons is an accomplished professional musician who is as used to playing internationally as he is here at home. He regularly performs for the Department of Tourism, corporate business and private audiences, and his long career includes working for a variety of top cruise lines. In addition, he has toured the US, Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, the South Pacific, the Caribbean and South America. He is also a recording artist
Like his fellow countrymen, Mr. Symons is eagerly looking forward to Edinburgh.
"I have never been part of anything of this magnitude, but I am going to go with an open mind. I can't even begin to imagine what it is going to be like, but I know it is a great opportunity. I will also be representing Bermuda, and I wouldn't want to pass that up."
In fact, Mr. Symons says he didn't think twice about accepting when Major Dill contacted him about participating.
"He told me that Brigadier Jameson (Chief Executive/Producer of the Edinburgh Tattoo) had heard me the previous year at the airport departure lounge and asked if I would be available. I didn't hesitate for a second."
Mr. Symons will be taking his distinctive custom-made, 1960s style steel pan with him, and will join his fellow Bermudians in fulfilling a number of pre-and post-Tattoo engagements.
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Premier opens ACE's new Headquarters
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Premier Jennifer Smith last night officially opened the multi-million dollar global headquarters of ACE, thanking the insurance giant for its commitment to Bermuda.
Ms. Smith declared the building open at a lavish champagne ceremony at the new Pitts Bay Road offices on the site of the former Bermudiana Hotel.
The pastel-coloured, 165,000 square foot building, whose foundations were laid in 1998, will now house all 160 ACE employees based in Bermuda and will be the nerve centre for global operations. Members of Cabinet and Parliament and the leader of the Opposition, Pamela Gordon joined with the great and the good of Bermuda and senior executives of ACE Ltd from around the world for the opening.
The office, which is built on a site next to its insurance rival XL Capital, which opened with similar fanfare earlier this year, was blessed by the Ven. Dr. Arnold T. Hollis of the Anglican Parish of Sandys, Deacon Joseph Morley of St. Theresa's Cathedral, and Rev. Malcolm Eve, Presiding Elder of the Bermuda Annual Conference of the AME Church before the official opening.
Addressing the guests before the opening in sweltering heat outside the Woodbourne Avenue main entrance, Brian Duperreault, chairman and chief executive officer of ACE Ltd. said of the new building: "I hope that you are all as pleased as I am at how well it turned out.
"It is unmistakably Bermudian in architecture. I believe that this new building is not only a new Bermuda landmark; it's also a symbol of the vitality of Bermuda's economy."
He said that three years ago, this site was occupied by a "once majestic but subsequently abandoned" hotel.
"It had become a decaying eyesore that was a blemish on our beautiful island. Today, two bright new office buildings stand in its place signifying Bermuda's pre-eminence in the global insurance and reinsurance community."
He said that Bermuda, an island of 60,000 people, was now the third largest insurance and reinsurance centre in the world, ranking ahead of larger economies with populations in the millions.
He said: "The ability of Bermuda to reinvent itself, to change and to adapt to new market forces is a testament to the successful cooperation between Government and business.
"We could not have built this building without the help from representatives of both the Government and the Opposition party who allowed us to buy the land and encouraged us to develop it. I know that I speak for both Brian O'Hara, the chief executive of XL Capital, and me when I say thank you to the Government of Bermuda, both present and past, for your support."
He said that ACE was a financially strong global organisation with its roots firmly planted in Bermuda.
"Our growth over the last sixteen years was based on merit and hard work and not some perceived tax advantage. This building is our global headquarters. It is a sign of our commitment not only to the Bermuda economy but to the Bermuda community as well."
He added: "In this new building, we will continue to move forward, training and developing our Bermuda workforce so that they can stand toe to toe with any of their peers on the global stage. We know that our investment comes back a thousand fold in healthy, well-educated and committed employees who enjoy their jobs and who feel they're respected and treated well."
He said that ACE's commitment was not only to the people it hires, but also to the community within which the company and its employees live.
He said: "We look forward to continuing to invest in the Bermuda community."
He said that it is often customary at the opening of an office building to give those guests some sort of commemorative gift, and in the spirit of investing in the Bermuda community, he said ACE Ltd. decided to mark this occasion with a "meaningful" donation to Pembroke Rest Home - a cheque for $10,000 to support their work in caring for the aged.
Permanent Secretary for Health and Family Services, Dr. Derrick Binns, and Vincent Ratteray and Linda Russell of the Pembroke Rest Home collected the cheque.
Mr. Duperreault thanked all those involved in the construction of the building - the contractors, designers and architects as well as the ACE staff involved in the project.
Then the Premier gave a short speech, celebrating both the architecture of the building and the commitment ACE showed to Bermuda and its people before cutting the green ribbon and declaring the building open.
At the champagne reception Tony Bari Jazz Trio and Robert Symons "Tropicana Steel Pan" entertained guests and food was catered for by the Flying Chef.
At the end of the evening, H&H Gombey Troupe performed on the terrace and led the guests from the building