FELIX WURMAN
FELIX WURMAN, cellist, was born in Chicago in 1958. He was given a cello at age seven and by age twelve was performing publicly. His Orchestra Hall debut with Chicago Symphony Orchestra was a noted success. Decling invitations from the Curtis and Julliard Schools of Music, Mr. Wurman was given the unique opportunity of private studies with Jacqueline duPre. Though suffering from multiple sclerosis and unable to play, she was a skilled communicator and for two years the two worked closely, covering most of the standard cello repertoire. Mr. Wurman became a regular participant in the Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove in Corwall, England, where he performed with Sandor Vegh, Johannes Goritski and many of the finest emerging and established muscians in the elite world of chamber music.
Striving to build an audience for chamber music Mr. Wurman founded Domus, a piano quartet that performed in its own portable concert hall. The geodesic dome tent seated two hundred and could be erected in a few hours by the muscians themselves. The quartet, studing under Vegh and Goritski began giving concerts both in the dome and in mor conventional cenues. But it was the dome concerts that brought the most notoriety. Domus became host of the European festival circuit. Later the group won two German Record Prizes and a Gramophone Magazine Best Chamber Music Recording for its CD of Faure's Piano Quartet. After eight years in Europe Mr. Wurman returned to Chicago to join the Lyric Opera Orchestra and began a new life as a free-lance cellist in Chicago.
An interest in Bach and the growing popularity of period instruments led Mr. Wurman to return frequently to Amsterdam to study under Anner Bylsma. It was Bylsma who encouraged him to build a five-string cello in order to explore new reportoire in the form of transcriptions, chiefly from works for violins. Mr. Wurman has performed the Partitas and Sonatas for Violn Solo in the Los Angeles County Art Museum and at the Cultural Center inChicago. Both Mr. Wurman's concerts were performed live over radio. The first of four CDs in which Mr. Wurman performs the complete canon of unaccompanied work for cello and violin is available on the Dymaxion label.
Seeking a slower pace, and encouraged by his friend David Lockington, Mr. Wurman moved to Albuquerque to join the New Mexico Symphony. He has performed chamber music for The Placitas Artist Series, The East Mountain Artists Series, The Corrales Cultural Arts Council and the Albuquerque Chamber Soloists. His group the Noisy Neighbors, comprising members of the New Mexico Symphony can be heard in diverse venues around Albuquerque as well as in their signature dome.
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