On 4 March 2025, during an extraordinary general assembly of the International Society for Contemporary Music held over Zoom, the delegates unanimously voted in support of the ISCM Romanian Section bid to host the 2026 ISCM World New Music Days in Bucharest, Romania. Subtitled “Columna Infinita” after the famous sculpture by 20th-century Romanian art icon Constantin Brâncuși (whose sesquicentennial will be celebrated in 2026), the 2026 WNMD will take place from 23-31 May at multiple concert venues including: the landmark Ateneul Român (which first opened in 1888); the even older National Opera Bucharest (founded in 1885); the Sala Radio (built in 1959); Horia Bernea Cinema Hall at the National Peasant Museum; the Romanian Youth National Art Center; Goethe-Institut and the Cervantes Institute, both ideal for intimate chamber music recitals; George Enescu Hall as well as the Opera and Multimedia Studio, both at the National University of Music, the latter of which is a state of the art space ideal for electroacoustic and multimedia performances; and finally the opulent Mogoșoaia Palace (built between 1698 and 1702) which is located 10 kilometres from Bucharest. The artistic director for the 2026 ISCM WNMD is composer Dan Dediu and festival partners include the Romanian Ministry of Culture, Artexim (organizers of the George Enescu Festival), UNMB (the National University of Music in Bucharest), New Europe College (which will host an international musicology symposium during the festival), Goethe-Institut Bukarest, the Cervantes Institute, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the National Peasant Museum, the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company, and TVR Cultural (the cultural channel of Romania’s government-funded television network).
The Call for Works for the 2026 ISCM WNMD will include 14 categories ranging from symphony orchestra, string quartet, and choir to audio-video and electroacoustic compositions as well as music for solo cimbalom (a hammered dulcimer that is central to Romanian folk music). Details for the 2026 Call for Works are scheduled to be announced in mid-April 2025 and will be open from the end of May until the beginning of October 2025 with the final jury adjudicated selection scheduled to be announced in mid-January 2026. All in all, 25 concerts featuring selected works are planned for the 2026 ISCM WNMD as well as programs by the Romanian folk ensemble, Byzantine music performed by the Psalmodia Choir, a concert by the Bucharest-based nujazz-progressive rock trio Opening Theory, and a staged performance of The Tempest, an opera by British composer Thomas Adès, who received the very first-ever ISCM Young Composer Award back in 2002 for his string quartet Arcadia which has since entered the repertoire.
Visit this website in the coming months for further details.