Felix Wurman

Felix Wurman (October 27, 1958 December 26, 2009) was an American cellist and composer.

Early years Wurman was the son of Hans Wurman, a Jewish composer and pianist who had escaped from Austria during the Anschluss period of Nazi rule. His brother is composer Alex Wurman.

Wurman began playing the cello at age seven and gave his first public performance, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, at age 12.

Domus While in England, Wurman focused on chamber music and performed with Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England. Wurman performed with musicians including Hungarian violinist Sándor Végh and Johannes Goritski . In the early 1980s, Wurman was one of the founders of Domus, a chamber music group that performed in its own portable geodesic dome tent built by Wurman. began at the International Musicians' Seminars at Prussia Cove.

Return to the United States Wurman later returned to Chicago, joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and became a freelance cellist in Chicago.

Church of Beethoven In early 2007, after performing at a church service, Wurman was inspired to create the "Church of Beethoven." Wurman noted it was not the theology he liked; it was "the ecstasy of the music, and the warmth of the parishioners enjoying it together." Wurman named the church after Beethoven because the composer "poured all that spirituality that he couldn't find a place for in the traditional church, he poured it straight into his art."

The Albuquerque Journal described the Church of Beethoven as "an hourlong mix of music, poetry and readings." The Church of Beethoven also received extensive coverage in the national media and was profiled by, among other outlets, National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times. NPR's Washington correspondent, Brigid McCarthy, described the services as "sort of like a variety show, with poetry readings, group singing, silence and music . . . a community, a spiritual place, like a church for people who don't go to church."

In 2008, the Church of Beethoven relocated from the filling station to a new home in a renovated warehouse in downtown Albuquerque which has been described as "rather cathedral-like, with warm red walls, vaulted wood ceilings and stained glass windows." The service was intended as an opportunity to demonstrate the community's appreciation for Wurman's life and commitment.

Wurman died of complications related to cancer.