On March 19, 2026, the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival will return to New York City for a three-day celebration of music and culture at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music.
This year’s edition, titled ‘Mosaics’ seeks to explore Ukrainian life through concerts, discussion panels, multimedia events, and more. There will be works from 17 Ukrainian composers, including 14 U.S. premieres, drawing from Crimean jazz, Ukrainian Jewish folk songs, among other influences.
Places
The first day will present works inspired by geography, featuring ‘Vela Invecti’ by Alla Zahaykevych, ‘Branching’ by Ostap Manulyak, ‘Voice of the Mountains’ by Victor Kaminsky, ‘Terricone’ by Anna Korsun, and ‘Five Minutes After Leaving the Bomb Shelter’ by Ivan Nebesnyy.
Performance Date: March 19, 2026.
Peoples
Reflecting traditional and modern perspectives of Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar, Hutsul, and Jewish artists, the program includes Anna Hurina’s electronic ‘Narod,’ Renata Sokachyk’s ‘Crimean Songs’ for voice and piano, Julia Gomelskaya’s Hutsulka Dance,’ Yuri Ischenko’s ‘Six Jewish Melodies,’ Oleksandr Shchetynsky’s ‘Music for Kharkiv,’ Josef Koffler’s ‘Variations on a Waltz by Johann Strauss’ for piano, and Alla Zahaykevych’s ‘Rituel’ for voice and electronics.
Performance Date: March 20, 2026.
Practices
The last day will explore the relationship between experimentation, reflection, and spirituality. Works featured include ‘String Quartet No. 1’ by Stefania Turkevych, ‘String Quartet No. 2’ by Zahaykevych, ‘sleep during insomnia’ by Boris Loginov, ‘Music That Leaves Itself’ by Ihor Zavhorodnii, ‘Icon’ by Velentyn Sylvestrov, and ‘For Maria’ by Hanna Havrylets.
Performance Date: March 21, 2026.
“With ‘Mosaics’, we want audiences to discover that Ukrainian music is not a single story but a living tapestry shaped by many peoples and histories,” says UCMF Founder and Creative Director Leah Batstone in a press release. “It’s a privilege to feature Alla Zahaykevych as our 2026 Composer-in-Residence: her work epitomizes the spirit of creative dialogue and resilience that defines Ukraine’s contemporary music scene. The festival’s conversations and performances reveal how these diverse threads continue to shape Ukraine’s sound world today. As the United States, with its own rich variety of landscapes, peoples and practices, celebrates 250 years of Independence, we are highlighting an important connection between our two countries.”
A full listing of events can be found on the festival’s website.