One of Raritan River Concerts’ goals is to enrich the chamber music literature with new compositions funded through the New Music Commissioning Program. Each year a composer is chosen to create a new work, the world premiere performance of which is recorded and performed at the Raritan River Music Festival. Outreach programs offered by the composer and musicians foster a sense of appreciation and participation in the music's creation within the community. All premieres have been broadcast on National Public Radio, including the "New Sounds" program with John Schaefer on WNYC-FM/ www.wnyc.org. Commissioned works for 1999 were by Dušan Bogdanović—on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (two guitars and string quartet)—and by Rami Vamos—then a graduate student at Yale University’s School of Music (two guitars, violin, cello). The 2000 commission went to Lowell Liebermann, Composer-in-Residence with Dallas Symphony (two guitars). Plans are under way for new works for 2002 (Michael Karmon, with funding from American Composers Forum) and 2003 (Augusta Read Thomas, Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony).

Listen to  the WNYC performances of Dušan Bogdanović and Lowell Liebermann