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PRIVATE CONCERT
On December 16, 2011 Celine Dion donated a private concert, to a sell-out audience to benefit the expansion of Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute in Miami, Florida, USA. Celine gave her performance in gratitude to the Institute for the life-saving procedure carried out on her husband, Rene Angelil, under the leadership of Dr. Barry Katzen, the Institute´s founder and medical director. "It started a little over two and a half years ago. We had quite a scare. Our family doctors discovered that Rene had a critical narrowing of the artery to his brain, the carotid artery, putting him at a high risk for stroke", Celine said in a video presented with her husband at the event. Angelil said he wasn´t a candidate for surgery so his doctors looked for a less invasive approach. "They had heard about [Dr. Katzen´s] work with non-invasive treatments and they basically told me he was the best person to take care of me", Angelil said. The audience of 1,700 enjoyed a reception before the 8 p.m. concert at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater. The presenting sponsor for the event, Audemars Piguet, official timekeeper of Baptist Hospital, hosted an exclusive dinner after the show. The concert raised $6 million, including campaign-related contributions. Event benefactor Victor E. Clarke, an honorary board member of the Baptist Health Foundation, will match all contributions up to $5 million for the capital campaign. "Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute has been ahead of its time for the past 25 years, and this expansion will allow its leadership team to take the Institute to the next level in cardiovascular excellence", said Brian Keeley, CEO and President of Baptist Health South Florida. The event´s chairs were Armando and Margarita Codina and James and Susan Carr, and co-chairs were Micky and Madeleine Arison. Honorary chairs were Dr. Barry and Judith Katzen. At the end of the concert, Celine held up a crystal pineapple she received after sang.
CONCERT IN LAS VEGAS
On December 31, 2011, on new year eve, Celine Dion performed at the Colosseum of the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, USA with her residency show "Celine". This was, of course, the last show of the year after more than 50 concerts with "Celine" at Caesars Palace. According to fans who attended the concert, Celine sounded very good. Although, at the beggining, there was a problem with the intro video and it had to restart. Celine sang "The prayer" as a virtual duet with Andrea Bocelli, as she replaced the song "Overjoyed" (a virtual duet with Stevie Wonder wich was performed from March 2011 to August 2011 and replaced since December 28, 2011). Other little changes in the concert were, she didn´t sit in the stairs anymore during the song "At seventeen" (one of the members of the band, Andre Coutu and Celine were sitting in a couple of high chairs). After the concert, Celine wished everyone in the audience a "Happy new year" and wished love happiness.
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