One of the highlights of the summer social season in WAG country is the annual Moonviewing Concert at the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden. Picture an elegantly spare garden with lotus pools and willowy reeds set high off the winding roads of North Salem, lit by paper lanterns and magic. Here, East meets West as guests gather for a tea ceremony, followed by a buffet and a concert on Japanese instruments. It’s an enchanted evening, a tradition begun by museum founder Natalie Hays Hammond in 1966.
This year’s Moonviewing takes place Aug. 17. The tea ceremony, conducted by Michael McKenna, begins at 6 p.m. with the buffet dinner by Leslie Lampert Affairs at the Hammond at 7 p.m. and the concert in the garden (weather permitting) at 8:30 p.m.
The kotos will be played by Masayo Ishigure and Motoko Kuroda and the shamisen by Marc DeGeorge.
Tickets for the buffet and concert are $65 (nonmembers) and $60 (members); for the concert only, $20 (nonmembers) and $15 (members). The museum is at 28 Deveau Road. For more, call (914) 669-5033, visit hammondmuseum.org or email gardenprogram@yahoo.com.
