NEW COMMISSIONS AND MORE: The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo is among the performers at the Raritan River Music Festival’s 35th season in Hunterdon County May 4-25.

The Raritan River Music Festival, winner of the National Award for Adventurous Programming from ASCAP/Chamber Music America, will hold its 35th season on Saturdays, May 4-25, 7:30 p.m., at venues in Hunterdon County.

Guitarists Laura Oltman and Michael Newman, the festival’s artistic directors, founded the festival with the goal of bringing live chamber music to historic venues in Hunterdon County.  The four-week festival includes debuts, new commissions, and world premieres.

The festival will open May 4 at Stanton Reformed Church, 1 Stanton Mountain Road, Stanton, with a performance by the Daedalus Quartet. The performance will include works by William Grant Still, Bela Bartok, and a world premiere by Andrew Davis.

On May 11 at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, 2 Race Street, Pittstown, the Hot Club of Philadelphia will present In Django’s Footsteps: Paris, 1935. Inspired by Paris’ 1930s “Quintet of the Hot Club of France,” guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli, The Hot Club of Philadelphia, with its founding guitarist Barry Wahrhaftig, brings its interpretations of Manouche (Romani) Jazz, aka “Gypsy Jazz,” Hot Jazz, and French Swing, along with Americana styles to the festival audience for the first time.

On May 18, at Hunterdon County Courtouse, 71 Main Street in Flemington, the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo will perform new commissions in addition to a celebration of Cuban legend Leo Brouwer’s 85th birthday on May 18. The concert will highlight selections from an upcoming new recording of recent commissions, including new music by Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Moravec, João Luiz, Celil Refik Kaya, and composer Leo Brouwer. Special guests Celil Refik Kaya and João Luiz, the duo’s former students and current colleagues, will join them.

The festival will close May 25 with the Manhattan Chamber Players performing “Brahms & Dvorák: Titans of the Romantic Era.” Their Raritan River Music Festival debut will feature works composed for piano quartet, piano, violin, viola, and cello by the two composers. The concert is at Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church, 217 Greenwich Church Road, Stewartsville. Visit RaritanRiverMusic.org for details and ticket information.