Eduardo Brito National Theater (Spanish: Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito) is a venue in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The centerpiece of the Plaza de la Cultura (Culture Plaza) complex, it regularly hosts opera, ballet, classical music performances, and Latin pop concerts.[1] The national theatre opened on August 16, 1973, and was originally known as the National Theater of Santo Domingo.[2] In 2006, it was renamed after the Dominican baritone Eduardo Brito by presidential decree.[2] It has a capacity of 1,700 seats.[1]
In 1970, then-president Joaquín Balaguer selected architect Teófilo Carbonell to design a world-class theater.[3] Carbonell traveled across Europe and the Americas before developing his design, which evokes the Metropolitan Opera House in New York while using Dominican materials including marble, mahogany, and onyx.[3][4]
After conducting the National Symphony at the National Theater in 1995, French pianist and conductor Philippe Entremont proposed holding a recurring music festival there.[5] First held in 1997 featuring pianists such as André Watts and José Feghali, the Santo Domingo Music Festival is hosted biennially at the National Theater.[5][6]
On 16 August 2024, the Eduardo Brito National Theater was the venue of the swearing-in ceremony for President Luis Abinader, attended by 17 heads of state and other international delegations.[7][8] It was the first time that the presidential inauguration ceremony was held at a location other than the Assembly Hall of the National Congress.[7]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
