Library Acts of Culture – Opera Philadelphia
On Monday, March 24, Andrew Bogard and Elena Perroni surprised library patrons with a short performance of an scene of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Bogard and Perroni, both students at the Curtis Institute of Music, have also performed with Opera Philadelphia. The duo performed the excerpt from Don Giovanni at three branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia that day (Whitman Branch, Charles Santore Branch, and Philadelphia City Institute Branch) as part of the Library Acts of Culture program, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Library Acts of Culture brings pop-up cultural performances to libraries in cities across the country and usually leaves audiences feeling pleasantly surprised. The first video below includes part of the performance at the Philadelphia City Institute Branch as well as interviews with Andrew and Elena, and a few library patrons. The second video is the entire performance. You may need to brush up on your Italian before watching!
Below are also some still photos from the Whitman Branch in South Philadelphia. To see the full gallery, click here. Thanks to Canary Promotion for coordinating the performances and to Gustavo Garcia for shooting with me.
Opera Philadelphia – Library Acts of Culture from Dave Tavani on Vimeo.
Opera Philadelphia – Library Acts of Culture – Full Performance from Dave Tavani on Vimeo.
Opera Philadelphia – “Love in the Park” 
Fireflies – Cai Guo-Qiang 
Voices of Philadelphia’s Historic District – Visit Philadelphia