Live Music Nights at the Art Museum

EYEDROPS – Pragmatic dreamers, melancholic progressives, loud introverts. Their concerts have been described as paradoxically energizing while evoking a strong sense of melancholy, and the band’s message is marked by surprising honesty.

EYEDROPS began their journey in 2012 with songs in English. Starting in 2015, with the embrace of Romanian as their language of expression, the band solidified its place in the Romanian alternative music scene, releasing songs like “Spre Soare,” “Prezent,” “Bicicleta,” and “Mai Stai.”
 

Amphitrio is a contemporary jazz project initiated in 2020, featuring pianist and composer Andrei Petrache, bassist Mike Alex, and percussionist Philip Goron, all musicians with a solid foundation in classical and alternative music. 

The story behind this trio speaks of friendship, the joy of playing and improvising in a well-knit group, despite each member simultaneously being involved in multiple other projects.
 

Gudrun Gut’s story spans many years, scenes, and sounds, from the “ingenious dilettantes” subculture of early 1980’s Berlin as part of Mania D, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Malaria! to Matador into an expansive solo catalog of later work. 

Her talents extend beyond musician, however, to include founding record labels (the influential imprints Moabit Musik and Monika Enterprise), radio presenter and producer together with Thomas Fehlmann (10 years Oceanclub Radio for RadioEins), club nights (progressive electronic pop collective Oceanclub), festival curation (with Fehlmann/Meteo on MarkeB, or now UM-Festival) and the recent experimental feminist collaborations (Monika Werkstatt).

The Gudrun Gut concert is possible at TIFF.24 with the support of the German Cultural Center Cluj-Napoca.
 

Kostiantyn Pochtar, better known as Postman, began his musical odyssey in Kyiv, crafting intimate 'city folk' songs with just a guitar and harmonica. His early works captured the everyday wonders of his hometown’s urban life, offering a raw, acoustic sound that reflected his surroundings. One of those early songs, ‘Kyivski Vulytsi’ (The Streets of Kyiv), was a huge success and has since been considered by many as an unofficial hymn of Ukraine’s capital.

Over the years, Postman ventured into uncharted musical territories. New soundscapes, drifting between mellow psychedelia and art pop, became richer and more complex, redefining traditional folk music and offering listeners a journey through familiar yet new terrains.
 

Chiral, is a Transylvania based genre fluid musical duo founded by Sigílio Scattolini & Chill the Great. They popped up last year with the debut single ‘River Bank Hotel’ and their first EP ‘Opqosite words’. Their compelling melting pot of alternative R&B, elements of soul and influences of UK new wave jazz gives a lush yet energetic sound to the duo. As of this year they perform with a live band promoting their first EP as well as some of their upcoming sophomore EP material.

Sorvina, New York-born now Berlin-based, is an artist whose music is as dynamic and evolving as her life story. Raised in a (relatively) quiet suburb of NYC, Sorvina first found her voice in the world of folk singer-songwriters, where her acoustic melodies and tragicomic lyricism painted vivid pictures of her inner world. But, as she continued along her personal and artistic journey, Sorvina soon grew courageous enough to admit one of her deepest most obscured dreams: to unironically become a rapper.

Now firmly rooted in the vibrant landscape of hip-hop, Sorvina has embraced her natural love for rhythm and rhyme, blending her storytelling roots with the infectious beats and lyrical complexity of her new genre. Each song is a chapter in her ongoing narrative, offering listeners an intimate glimpse into her life—from the challenges and joys of her identity to the constant movement that defines her existence.
 

Bedouin Soundclash formed in 2001, taking their name from Israeli dub artist Badawi’s 1996 release. Their debut album Root Fire (2001) received critical acclaim, but it was their sophomore record Sounding a Mosaic (2004) that launched them globally, leading to sold-out shows and festival appearances worldwide. The album featured the hit single “When The Night Feels My Song”, produced by hardcore legend Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains. In 2006, the band won their first JUNO Award for Canada’s Best New Group, achieved significant UK chart success, and earned multiple accolades across Europe.

Take four jazzmen with a passion for improvisation and techno clubbing and you get Photons, pianist Gauthier Toux’s new project, as much for dancing as for listening.

One night, the basses hit you in the gut, rattle your bones, creep up your spine, and unsettle your brains until they finally give in – that’s the sort of trance electronic music can produce. For Gauthier Toux, the revelation came one evening in 2016 at a club in Lausanne officiated by a techno DJ. A classically-trained pianist, then an adept of cerebral jazz, he was struck physically by the synthetic sounds and the pace of the machines, to the extent that the experience fractured the whole edifice he had built up as an academic instrumentalist. And that’s how the Photons project began. 

The Photons concert at TIFF.24 is made possible with the support of the French Institute in Cluj-Napoca and the Embassy of the Republic of France in Romania.
 

Valeria Stoica is an indie-pop artist from the Republic of Moldova. She has a deep connection with nature which is where she spent her childhood and gets inspired by. Her first official single - “Remember” - was a great surprise for the Romanian indie-pop listeners. It has also proved to be an international success, with Spotify listeners from all over the world. 

Since then, Valeria has released a couple of successful songs, such as “Distante”, “Just a Boy”, “Poate, "Empty Air”. which have earned her performances at music festivals such as Electric Castle and Summerwell, as well as solo shows across the country. She has also had the honour of opening for renowned artists such as Lucy Dacus, Passenger, and Jacob Lee.