Venue: House Museum of Alexander Chavchavadze, Tsinandali

Festivals and academies breed familiarity and mutual compassion between audiences and returning artists. Yet the warmly informal feel of this concert owed mostly to the close relationships between the musicians themselves.

Chinese American Li, once another purveyor of typically scorching performances, is better known these days for his sensitivity and nuance. 

Playing under its music director Gábor Takács-Nagy, the VFCO radiated joy for music-making; the very thing Verbier – and now Tsinandali – is all about.