UCIMR supports performing artists and creates opportunities for music to travel between people, places and cultures. Through festivals, academies, residencies and concert projects, we bring Romanian musicians into international collaborations and welcome artists from around the world to perform in Romania.
Founded in 1995, UCIMR — the Romanian Association of Music Performers — is a nonprofit cultural organisation with public benefit status. Our work spans classical music, jazz and contemporary music, connecting established artists and younger generations with audiences, venues and cultural partners.
International exchange is part of this work. We develop projects with partners abroad, support artistic encounters across borders and create settings in which new collaborations can take shape.
We bring artists and audiences together through programmes that combine performance with learning. Masterclasses, rehearsals and residencies give musicians time to develop their practice, while concerts allow them to share the results with the public.
We work with partner organisations and venues to present artists and repertoire in new places. These collaborations also bring international musicians to Romania, creating encounters between different artistic traditions and audiences.
Our projects give composers and performers space to experiment, create and work together. We are particularly interested in what happens after a residency: how a new work can reach audiences through concerts, festivals and further partnerships.
Launched in 2003, ICon Arts brings together an international academy, a festival and artistic residencies. Its main programme takes place in Transylvania, where musicians learn and perform in villages, historic churches and other cultural spaces. ICon Arts has also held editions in Rome, Italy and Boswil, Switzerland. In 2026, a first edition at Kylemore Abbey in Connemara extended the programme to Ireland.
The Jazz Cave Festival presents Romanian and international artists in distinctive venues in Vâlcea County. Concerts take place underground at Ocnele Mari Salt Mine, at an art museum and in an urban park. The 2026 edition featured 21 bands from Europe and the Americas. The festival is included in the Europe Jazz Network.
InTERRActions brought Romanian and Irish music to Limerick, Dublin and Boyle in 2025. Developed in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre in Ireland, the project combined concerts and conversations around contemporary music and cultural exchange.
ForestAria commissioned new works by women composers and brought together string quartet music and photography in a series of multimedia concerts in Romania, Ireland and London.
Backstage of Life began as an international composition laboratory within ICon Arts Transilvania. Artists from Romania, Ireland and Latvia explore the stages through which an idea becomes a musical and poetic performance. Following its Romanian premiere, the project continues in Latvia and Ireland.
A musical dialogue with Japan has brought Romanian musicians to Tokyo and Japanese artists to audiences in Romania. Recent projects include the WINGS concerts and the Lipatti Days recitals presented in Tokyo in 2025.
In focus: Dinu Lipatti Romanian Music Festival
The inaugural Dinu Lipatti Romanian Music Festival takes place in Tokyo in October 2026. Named after one of Romania’s most admired musicians, the festival offers audiences in Japan an opportunity to hear Romanian music and meet the artists who bring it to life today.
UCIMR is a main partner of the festival, continuing its collaboration with cultural partners in Japan and its commitment to presenting Romanian performers internationally.
[Festival programme and details — link to be added]
UCIMR welcomes partnerships with festivals, concert venues, educational institutions and cultural organisations interested in developing projects together. We are particularly interested in collaborations involving international exchange, artistic residencies, co-productions and opportunities for musicians to work across borders.
For partnership enquiries, please contact office@ucimr.ro.
