Events

The new edition of Music Gallery opens Edison — House of Music
The former Steaua Roșie Cinema reopens as a house of music in Cluj-Napoca

On 17 October, from 19:00, Cluj marks a new cultural first: Music Gallery, Romania’s first music-focused gallery, reopens in a venue with over 120 years of history — Edison — House of Music, on Strada Paris, corner with Ploiești.
The project transforms the former Steaua Roșie cinema into a cultural hub dedicated to music and community, continuing the mission of the Fapte team (organisers of Jazz in the Park) to bring art closer to people and to return cultural spaces to the city.

Music Gallery is Romania’s first and only art exhibition dedicated to music. Conceived as an interactive gallery, it offers visitors an immersive experience of what lies behind musical creation, with a focus on high-quality listening (Hi-Fi), music education, and understanding music’s cultural context. The curatorial foundation starts from jazz and its influences, while the format blends visual art with technology and storytelling.

“We’re about to start what is probably the most challenging project in Fapte’s history: opening our own space, exactly as we imagine it. We want it to become a meeting place for our community of music lovers and people who care about meaningful things. Music Gallery is a project that, at one point, truly saved us in difficult times, and now we have the courage to make it permanent in the city. It’s in a place I walked past countless times as a child, and it still feels incredible that today it’s ours. It’s a beautiful challenge and a great responsibility. We need the community’s support — and we hope we’ll have it.” — Alin Vaida, General Manager, Fapte

A building with history and a new story
Built in the early 1900s for the Hungarian community, the Edison building became, after World War II, the Steaua Roșiecinema. During the communist period it remained a space of uniformity; after 1989, it changed purpose several times, eventually falling into neglect.
Today, the building returns to life as Edison — House of Music, thanks to the organisers of Jazz in the Park, keeping a link with history and with inventor Thomas Edison, who changed forever how we listen to music through the phonograph.

Music Gallery — Jazz Around the World
The 2025 exhibition theme, “Jazz Around the World,” explores the diversity and global impact of jazz. Visitors embark on a sonic journey from the genre’s birth to the defining moments of its evolution, tracing how jazz transformed across continents — Europe, South America, Asia — and how each culture made it its own. Key installations include:

• Jazz Around the World installation — an interactive multimedia globe with 25 musical points where you can plug in your headphones and discover jazz from every corner of the world.
• Vinyl Mediatheque — a dedicated area to listen attentively on headphones to any record on display, from classics to contemporary releases.
• VR Concert — virtual-reality experiences that place you, for the first time, in the middle of a live performance.
• Hall of Fame — a section dedicated to artists who defined the history of jazz.
• Playroom — a try-out area for instruments: piano, guitar, and drums.
• Listening Room — a sound-insulated room equipped with Hi-Fi systems for impeccable listening.

What makes Music Gallery different
Unlike festivals or concerts, Music Gallery presents music in a visual and interactive format. Visitors can stay as long as they wish, return, and explore each installation freely.
The exhibition is designed for all ages — from children and teenagers discovering instruments to vinyl collectors and sound enthusiasts. Its aim is to humanise music, presenting it not only as an artistic phenomenon, but as a story, a context, and a social experience.

Three pillars structure the exhibition:

• Listen — what to listen to and how to listen: a mediatheque of essential albums, vinyl playback, and Hi-Fi systems.
• Learn — history, social and artistic contexts, how jazz influenced — and was influenced by — other genres.
• Explore — access to equipment and installations the public rarely encounters: Hi-Fi set-ups, instrument simulators, multimedia collaborations.

A special project within the exhibition is Ora de Muzică (Music Class), dedicated to pupils. They can join 50-minute guided tours, interactive and educational, organised Tuesday to Friday. Bookings: contact@musicgallery.ro.

Weekly events at Edison — House of Music
Throughout the two-month exhibition period, the organisers will test the space’s possibilities and, together with the public, explore what it means to bring an old building back to life through music.
Every week brings something new: live concerts every Thursday, weekend mini-festivals, intimate concerts in the speakeasy bar, vinyl fairs, DJ sessions, cine-concerts, or morning foyer concerts. For moments of quiet, an upstairs Hi-Fi listening room awaits, where you can hear music in its purest quality. There will also be children’s workshops, educational events, and a series of gatherings that help us better understand why music has the power to bring people together.
The venue will also feature a Pop-Up Olivo Coffee Culture café animating the foyer and atmosphere — good coffee, good music, and good conversations.

Official opening
Music Gallery opens on 17 October, at 19:00, at Edison — House of Music (Strada Paris, corner with Ploiești). Visitors will be able to see both the exhibition and the building’s transformation — a former cinema becoming, for the first time, a house of music.
Tickets for the exhibition will be available soon at www.musicgallery.ro and on site.

About Music Gallery and Fapte
Music Gallery is a project created during the pandemic by the Jazz in the Park team as an alternative form of music education and exploration. The exhibition presents genres, artists, and sound technologies in an accessible, engaging format.
Launched in 2023 in Cluj and Iași, where it attracted over 7,500 visitors, the exhibition was later showcased in special versions at Jazz in the Park and Jazz in the Park Competition. In 2025, Music Gallery sets off on a national tour to six cities together with the NEPI Rockcastle network, reaching Bucharest, Ploiești, Constanța, Timișoara, Craiova, and Sibiu.
The exhibition is produced by Fapte, organiser of Jazz in the Park, an association founded in Cluj-Napoca in 2012. Fapte’s mission is to make art accessible to the general public and to revive the city’s forgotten spaces through culture. For the Music Gallery project, the association received two Silver awards at the Romanian PR Award, in the Culture & Arts and Events & Experiential Marketing categories.

Presented by: Fapte, Jazz in the Park, Edison — House of Music
Funded by: AFCN; Cluj-Napoca City Hall and Local Council; LIVEMX — co-funded by the European Union
Partners: 8×8, Yamaha, Meze Audio, Acoustic Density, Audio-Technica, Olivo Coffee Culture, MobilaDalin, Daisler Print House, Explore Architecture, Byron, Im Artimm
Media partners: Rock FM, TVR Cultural, TVR Cluj, The Woman, Kolozsvári Rádió, Ziarul Metropolis, România Pozitivă, Ziua de Cluj, Cluj24, Visit Cluj, Cluj Live