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Today, Wednesday the 20th of August, the Altos de Chavón amphitheater, the most iconic symbol of Altos de Chavón celebrates it’s 32nd birthday!
The amphitheater was officially inaugurated on August 20th 1982 with the “Concert for the Americas” featuring Frank Sinatra, Buddy Rich, Heart and Carlos Santana, and has been bringing us show-stopping concerts and celebrations ever since!
Within the last year alone, some of the world’s greatest performers have taken to the cobbled stage of the Altos de Chavón amphitheater – Elton John in February, Franco de Vita in April, Luis Miguel in November of last year, and Pitbull last September, as well as a private Jason Mraz concert for the birthday party of billionaire Jim Clarke.
Coming up next is the “Quiéreme Como Soy” concierto with Juanes on November 16th.
With more than 200 concerts over the last 32 years, here we bring you the history of the Altos de Chavón amphitheater…
In the beginning
Cerca 1975: The Altos de Chavón amphitheater (and Altos de Chavón) was designed by famous set designer, Roberto Coppa, who was employed by Charles Bluhdhorn, president of Gulf & Western, then owners of Casa de Campo.
1979: The principal areas of Altos de Chavón were completed.
December 31st, 1980: “Genesis” disco opened.
August 20th, 1982: The Altos de Chavón amphitheater is officially opened with the “Concert for the Americas” featuring Frank Sinatra, Buddy Rich, Heart and Carlos Santana – to read more and see photos of this concert, click here.
1983: The Altos de Chavon School of Art and Design opens in affiliation with New York’s famed Parson’s School of Design.
Highlights of the 1980’s
1983: During it’s first complete year open the Altos de Chavón amphitheater hosted 13 concerts, including performances by Sergio Méndez and Air Supply, who both returned to perform for a second time, in 1987 and 2005 respectively.
1985: The legendary Julio Iglesias performs for the first time – he also took to the Altos de Chavón stage in 1988 (joined by Oscar de la Renta) as well as in 1992, 1997 and 2007.
1987: The first Heineken Jazz Festival was held on October 18th – subsquent festivals were held in 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999.
Highlights of the 1990’s
1991: The first performance of the “Academia de Ballet Magda Corbett” took place on December 21st – an event which has now become an annual tradition, raising money for the “Hogar de los Ancianos” (elderly persons home) in La Romana. Click here to see photos of the most recent performance on November 25th 2011.
1998: Gloria Estefan, Shakira, Juan Luis Guerra and Angela Carrasco perform in a legendary ensemble.
1999: Local Dominican super-star Juan Luis Guerra performs with 440 on the 18th of December and Milly Quezada with Carlos Piantini performed on December 29th – the last concert before the turn of the new millenium.
2000 – today
2002: Marc Anthony performs for the first time – making a return appearance in 2006.
2005: The “Skip Festival” unites Air Supply, Kansas, Alphaville and Claudio Piantini on stage.
2006: STING performs for the first time and the “Caribe Pop Festival 2006” brings Bryan Adams, The Rasmus and La Oreja de Van Gogh on the 3rd, 4th and 6th of November.
2008: World famous Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo thrilled the audience with Dominican classics, such as ”Por amor” y “Paraíso soñado”. Placido Domingo’s most recent performance in the Dominican Republic was in December 2011 in Santo Domingo, the concert “Lo mejor de mi alma latino”, raised money for the ‘Fundación Sur Futuro’ charity, click here for the full story and photos.
Since Casa de Campo Living was “born” in 2008, we have been lucky enough to attend, enjoy and “cover” most of the concerts of recent times, so here we bring you our photos and coverage:
March 7th, 2009: Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana, one of the opening acts of the “Concert de las Americas” which inaugurated the Altos de Chavón amphitheater in 1982, returned in 2009, when a full house of passionate fans applauded and grooved to the sounds of classics like ’Black Magic Woman’, ‘No One to Depend On’, ‘Oye Como Va’ as well as his most recent hits – soon to become classics ‘Corazon Espinado’, ‘Smooth’ and ‘Maria Maria’ which had the crowd roaring “VIVA CARLOS SANTANA!”
April 11th, 2009: Enrique Iglesias
Performing as part of his “Greatest Hits World Tour 2009” Enrique Iglesias seduced his more than 5,000 fans with his greatest hits such as; “Don’t you forget about me,”. “Lloro por ti”, “Donde están corazón?”, “Just wanna be with you”, “Dimelo”, “Experiencia religiosa”, “Por amarte”, “Sólo en ti”, “Bailamos”, “Not in love”, “Escape” and in true Iglesias style ending with “Heroe” and a rather romantic and lingering kiss for one lucky lady plucked from the audience.
April 30th, 2009: Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, one of the greatest if not the greatest tenors alive today supported by the full Dominican National Symphony Orchestra in the fabulous Altos de Chavón amphitheater was quiet simply sensational.
Il Divo thrilled the audience with classics in Spanish and English such as ‘Like a bridge over troubled water’ and ‘Without you,’ as well as the salsa classic ‘La Vida sin Amour’ (to which they even danced a little Salsa), ending with ‘A mi manera’, the Frank Sinatra classic – a tribute to the legend who opened the Altos de Chavon Amphitheater 30 years ago.
December 5th, 2009: ‘Recorriendo el Mundo’
The annual ballet performance by the Elizabeth Zeller Ballet Academy, raising money for the “Hogar de los Ancianos” (elderly persons home) in La Romana. This show was held in honour of Tia Eli (Elizabeth Zeller), following her passing in May 2009 who spent hours coaching the girls in ballet.
His energy was contagious – the stadium was full with the screams of fans, people singing along to the songs and EVERYONE gyrating to the music.
May 22nd, 2010: Eros Ramazotti
Performing as part of his “Alas and Raices” tour, this concert was Eros’ first appearance in the Dominican Republic.
August 15th, 2010: Alejandro Sanz
A true showman to the end, Sanz preformed more than 16 songs, including more recent hits and his most well-know and loved songs, such as “Corazón partío” and “Cuando nadie me ve,” ending with a sensational finale; a medley of his oldest hits!
December 11th, 2010: ‘Regros a los 80’
The annual ballet performance by the Elizabeth Zeller Ballet Academy, raising money for the “Hogar de los Ancianos” (elderly persons home) in La Romana, ‘Regros a los 80’ was a series of very varied dances to different iconic music from the 1980′s!
December 13th, 2010: Teatro de la Comunidad
The Teatro de la Comunidad event was organised and sponsored by Casa de Campo Living to unite the Casa de Campo and La Romana community and to give talented and enthusiastic members of our community the opportunity to perform in the Altos de Chavón Amphitheatre. In organising the show, the different charities and schools involved were given the opportunity to sell tickets to raise some much needed funds for their own organisation – and so not only did we all have a splendid night, we also raised money for our local charities!
February 12th, 2011: Exaltation to the “Salon de la Fama”
At the ceremony Alex Rodriquez was recognised for being the youngest player ever to make 600 home runs, whilst 7 of the greatest baseball players in the Latino world – Edgar Martínez, Dennis Martínez, Manny Sanguillén, Luis Tiant and Ricardo Carty were exalted into the Salon de la Fama.
April 23rd, 2011: Don Omar & Victor Manuel
The concert with the 2 latin singers, ‘Encuentro de dos grandes’ turned out to actually be not one concert of both artists, but more like two different concerts, one after the other. Click on the links below for photos and the full story:
Duran Duran thrilled the crowd of more than 4,000 fans with their most famous hits; “Hungry like the wolf”, “Notorious”, “Save a prayer”, “The Reflex”, “Ordinary World”, “Fashion” “Sunrise”, “Careless memories”, “The Wild boys” and of course “Rio”; songs which had everyone up out of their seats, dancing, jumping around and waving their arms in the air.
With all eyes turned towards the musical legend it was party central as everyone danced, bounced and waved their arms to STING’s popular solo songs and legendary hits from his era with “The Police.”
September 10th, 2011: INCOLBALLET & Dominican Nacional Ballet
The performance incorporated acts from a Columbian Ballet school (INCOLBALLET) and the Ballet Nacional Dominicano (the Dominican Nacional Ballet)
September 17th, 2011: Franco de Vita
With nearly 3 hours on stage, a full house of more than 5,000 fans, no less than 5 guest singers and a ‘bongo drum’ band , De Vita exalted entertainment in the Altos de Chavón amphitheater to a legendary latino level! BRAVO!
September 24th, 2011: Taiwan Acrobatics
This show was varied, fun, captivating and action-packed, so much so that it could more accurately be described as a Circus, rather than just Acrobatics!
November 25th, 2011: ‘Christmas Fantasy’
The annual ballet performance by the Elizabeth Zeller Ballet Academy, raising money for the “Hogar de los Ancianos” (elderly persons home) in La Romana, the girls performing ‘Christmas Fantasy’ surprised the audience with spectacular costumes; miniature snowmen, christmas trees, soldiers, as well as of course, their undeniable talent and excellent dancing skills and discipline.
December 16th, 2011: The Nutcracker Suite ballet
Part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Altos de Chavón amphitheater, the Nutcracker Suite was sponsored by by the Dominican Ministry of Tourism and the Central Romana Corporation.
December 17th, 2011: Folkloric Ballet “A los cuatro vientos”
The “Folklore a los cuatro vientos”, performed by the Dominican National Folkloric Ballet group and directed by Josefina Miniño, involved more than 150 dancers as well as famous Dominican folkloric singers Ileana Reynoso and Fausto Guillén.
February 11th, 2012: 3rd Exaltation to the Salon de la Fama
Eight baseball luminares were recognized in the 3rd Grand Exaltation Ceremony which took place at the Altos de Chavón amphitheater.
The Grand Gala of French Music
Oh la la! The Grand Gala of French Music at the Altos de Chavón amphitheater was quiet a show – with the “Gran Orchestre de Rene Coll”, the Dominican-French jazz singer, Cyrille Aimee and CAN-CAN dancers!
Luis Fonsi performed a wonderful repertoire of songs such as, “Tu Amor”,”Imagíname Sin Tí”, “Por Una Mujer”, “No me doy por vencido”, “Se Supone”, “Llueve por dentro”, among others.
The Altos de Chavon amphitheatre was the extraordinary venue selected by Mexican singer Ana Gabriel to film her Live CD-DVD, an occasion which was the perfect excuse for many families, friends and Dominican fans to enjoy, not only a wonderful journey into many pleasant memories of her numerous long time hits, but also a terrific opportunity to be featured in this wonderful project which, according to Latin Sony Music, producers of the event and project will be released in September 2012
December 28th, 2012: Julio Iglesias
Over 5,000 Julio Iglesias fans packed into the Altos de Chavón amphitheater here in Casa de Campo for a magical night with the internationally famous Spanish singer – and were treated to an incredible duet between Iglesias and the President of Haiti, Michel Martelly – a moving union aimed to further strength the bond between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The Altos de Chavón amphitheater filled with bright stars. The Mega Chavón concert welcomed to the stage many great Dominican musicians, such as Fernando Villalona, Wason Brazoban, Sergio Vargas, and many more.
May 24th, 2013: National Symphonic Orchestra
The 24th of May 2013 was the concert at Altos de Chavón Amphitheatre of the magnificent National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the great José Antonio Molina. This concert was part of the Festival de Primavera activities held from May 23rd to May 24th in Altos de Chavón.
June 8th, 2013: Ricardo Arjona
The artist entertained from beginning to the end, more than 5,000 fans while performing at this prestigious venue! This was undoubtedly a huge success… but when we consider the audience’s standing ovation and expectations, the charismatic artist succeeded our greatest expectations!
September 21st, 2013: PITBULL!
Last Saturday the 21st of September 2013, the Altos de Chavon amphitheater was, once again, a tremendous venue for what was indeed a memorable evening – where more than 5,000 attendees joined Pitbull – Mr. 305 – in an unforgettable concert for the Hogar del Niño!
November 2nd, 2013: Luis Miguel
The Altos de Chavón amphitheater, filled to capacity, shook to the sound of Luis Miguel classics this past Saturday the 2nd of November.
February 8th, 2014: Grand Induction Ceremony of Latino Baseball Hall of Fame.
Last Saturday the 8th of February was a night of stars, of the INMORTALES of latin baseball. No Latin American baseball event has ever brought together such a legion of baseball greats of yesterday and today, as did the Grand Induction Ceremony of Latino Baseball Hall of Fame.
February 28th, 2014: Elton John
Sir Elton John, thank you. The concert on Friday evening (February 28th, 2014) was outstanding. You are a legend, you brought tears of joys to my eyes, it was a truly magical experience and one I will never forget.
April 19th, 2014: Franco de Vita
For numerous national and international visitors at Casa de Campo, our very own paradise, having the opportunity to enjoy, sing and dance to the rhythms of Franco de Vita’s music at his concert, celebrated last Saturday 19th of April 2014 in the Altos de Chavon amphitheater.
Juanes, a Colombian singer-songwriter of Latin pop and rock, is set to sing on the 16th of November at the Altos de Chavón amphitheater, a concert that will be part of the annual event known as “Quiéreme Como Soy”!
