Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival

The Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival (UCMF) returns to New York City March 19–21, 2026, with its seventh edition, Mosaics, a three-day celebration of contemporary Ukrainian music at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Co-presented by the Ukrainian Institute in Kyiv and presented in partnership with the Ukraïner cultural media archive, the festival explores the rich diversity of Ukrainian Places (March 19), Peoples (March 20), and Practices (March 21) through three concerts featuring music by 17 composers, including 14 U.S. premieres, ranging from Crimean jazz to Ukrainian Jewish folk traditions.

The International Contemporary Ensemble opens the festival with a new co-commissioned world premiere by 2026 Composer-in-Residence Alla Zahaykevych, whose works appear across all programs, including a performance of her String Quartet No. 2 by The Rhythm Method on March 21. All concerts feature projected imagery from the Ukraïner archive, and the festival concludes on March 21 with UCMF Afterdark, a free late-night cross-cultural jazz collaboration led by Crimean Tatar composer-pianist Usein Bekirov at The Close-Up.