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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Music & Meditation in the Garden—Lun Li, Violin; Hanzhi Wang, Accordion

The garden at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, NY.

August 10, 2024
149 Girdle Ridge Rd, Katonah, NY 10536

Is the 20-something Lun Li a new name to you? Then know this. A Shanghai native based in New York, he’s a violinist of prodigious gifts, as attested by his First Prize at the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. And he plays a great fiddle: the Stradivarius “Samazeuilh” (1735), on loan to him from the Nippon Music Foundation. On what we hope will be a nice, cool Sunday morning, Li’s datebook has him in the Sunken Garden at the princely Tuscan-style estate of Caramoor, 50 miles from Manhattan, making beautiful music with the accordion sensation Hanzhi Wang, First Prize winner at that same Young Concert Artists event in 2017. Li and Wang’s gig brings to its conclusion the summer series “Music & Meditation,” programs that start with spiritual musings guided by Jennifer Llewellyn of the nearby sanctuary-cum-boutique Majestic Hudson. “We hope,” the promotional copy tells us, “that after this event, all will be centered, present, and enlightened until this delightful series returns next summer!” Good luck with that! Participants are asked to bring their own “seating.” Chair? Pillow? Quilt? Yoga mat? Up to you. —Matthew Gurewitsch

Photo courtesy of Gabe Palacio and the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts