On September 19, Kutik gives the world premiere of Eric Nathan's new Violin Concerto, The Mountains We Climb, with the Rhode Island Philharmonic — a co-commission by eight orchestras and a consortium of violinists, of which Kutik is honored to be the one to introduce the work to the world. Led by Music Director Ruth Reinhardt, the performance opens the RI Phil's 2026–27 season and marks the launch of Nathan's three-year appointment as the orchestra's first-ever Composer in Residence. Inspired by the act of mountain climbing as a metaphor for perseverance, the concerto shares the program with Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony.

Last month brought the Quartet to New London, NH and Greensboro, VT, closing out the festival season at the finale of the Newport Classical festival, where they joined the festival's Resident Artists for string octets by Shostakovich and Mendelssohn. The momentum continues with an eight-day New England tour, August 9–16, including a stop at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival in Chatham; collaborative jazz-and-classical performances with saxophonist Steve Wilson, pianist Renee Rosnes, and bassist David Wong in Falmouth and Wellfleet, featuring world premieres of a new Rosnes commission and two Maria Schneider arrangements; and appearances on Martha's Vineyard with the Chappaquiddick Community Center Chamber Music Series and the Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Society.

Pianist Henry Kramer's summer got underway with a faculty residency at the Adamant Music School in Vermont's Green Mountains, where he taught June 8–19, and continues this week on the composition and performance faculty of the Emerging Composers Intensive at Hidden Valley in Carmel Valley, CA, running through July 5. Kramer's summer concludes in August at La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest, where he joins the festival's 40th-anniversary "Making History" season for a run of chamber performances, including Debussy's En Blanc et Noir alongside Music Director Inon Barnatan.