At
the age of 5, Philippe discovered the fascination of magic illusions when
he saw his first magic show at the Bernhard Theater in Zurich. The trick
he was most perplexed about, was the effect with the magic rings (his dream
was to perform this trick one day). After this show Philippe got his first
magic set (Hardy's Kinderzauberkasten) and a book with the basics of prestidigitation.
After one week he knew to perform every trick of the magic set and he was
no longer interested in. At this time Philippe began to look at the pictures
(because he couldn't read at this time) of the book he also got. He
also always watched spellbound uncle Fritz (no joke!) when he performed
his favourite gag with the mouse (made of a handkerchief). When Philippe
was 10, magic moved to background and he mainly was interested in soccer.
This continued and changed only when he was playing poker at lunchtime
at the age of 16. From this moment, he began to learn everything about
cards and he read the whole book he got at the age of 5. He also was performing
the tricks he had learned, most prefered on his vaccations in hotels and
also when playing card games. After closeup cards tricks, Philippe began
to learn the grips of card manipulation and he also began to learn the
trick of the magic rings to fulfil his childhood dream. From this time,
he has also done his first performances with stage and close-up magic,
but he always combined the two lines of magic. Since 1993 he is performing
a stage show of 25 minutes and close-up illusions from table to table (with
cards, coins, sponge balls and rubber bands). Philippe Maurer amazes the
people not with big illusions on big distances but with event magic amid
and with the audience. In 1999 Philippe went to the United States and graduated
at a magic school for manual dexterity and prestidigitation. In Orlando
2001 and in San Diego 2002 he competed at the annual convention of the
International Brotherhood of Magicians in the stage contest
and also entered the most prestigious close-up magic competition in the
world with the toughest audience in all of magic. He is internationally
known for his real one-handed cut in the air.
Philippe is member of different magic organizations including "The International
Brotherhood of Magicians", "The Academy of Magical Arts (Magic Castle,
Hollywood)", "The Magic Circle", the "Chavez Studio of Magic" and the "International
Magicians Society".
