For this year’s festival, Peterson sought to feature one set group of musicians for each concert. It worked like this: Peterson would approach a musician he wanted to engage for the festival and would ask this question: “Who would you feel comfortable playing with?” He then would ask the musicians what pieces they wanted to play, and gave them wide latitude in making their choices, although he encouraged them to consider diversity among composers.

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The process virtually ensured that some of his musicians would select works Peterson had never heard of beforehand, and he was fine with that.

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For example: When Peterson asked pianist Monica Ohuchi, a festival favorite, whom she wanted to play with at the festival, her answer was quick: Her husband, violist Kenji Bunch. And she wanted to play “BQE” (“Brooklyn-Queens Expressway”), a work by Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara. (By the way, Uehara was a performer at the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.)

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Here’s another example: Peterson didn’t know about Emilie Mayer’s String Quartet No. 1 until violinist Jessica Lambert and cellist Anne Ridlington brought it to his attention; now, the work is on the program for this year’s festival.

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Other times, though, Peterson finds works by lesser-known or contemporary composers through his own research or listening – and then waits for opportunities to showcase them. For example, two works by female composers, “Shades” by Daijana Wallace and “Moerae” by Mary Kouyoumdjian, are on the program for the festival’s Aug. 6 concert. But Peterson also has programmed Beethoven’s well-known Kreutzer Sonata as part of that concert, and he said Chintimini audiences are sophisticated enough to enjoy that blend of familiar and newer works:

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“One thing that I feel with Chinitimini is that we have an audience that loves the classic chamber music but is also willing to come in and try new things and listen to new things and experience music in a different way sometimes.”

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The drive to create that experience, for musicians and audiences alike, has been at the heart of the festival since its first notes sounded in 2000. Peterson still feels that drive today.

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“I look at every year as an opportunity to come together, musicians and audiences, to share great music, to learn more about music, and to learn more about each other,” he said. “I never really look further.”