Peter Marvey
| Peter Marvey | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
1971 Zurich, Switzerland |
| Occupation | magician, illusionist |
| Website | www.marvey.ch |
Peter Marvey is a magician and illusionist best known for his combination of sleight of hand and large-scale stage illusions.
Biography
In his early childhood, Peter Marvey was fascinated with any form of flying, whether the flight of birds, stage "flying" or aviation. He expressed his passion by creating simple wings made of wood and textile. His parents booked a flight from Zurich to Geneva, for the exclusive reason of allowing him to "experience flight".
He was also fascinated by magic. He soon became aware of his talent for this art and invested all his time and energy in it. He was caught doing finger practice under his desk at school. While still in high school, Marvey created his first illusion, a version of levitating girl. Later on he interrupted his studies to concentrate on creating illusions.
Magic career
Marvey studied, designed and practiced for seven years to create an illusion called "Dream Flying", which made his name in the magic business and became a signature piece. He first performed this illusion in Perpignan, France, in October 1999, for a magic convention. He later performed it live on TV in 2001.
Marvey has created seven different flying illusions, as well as the Flying Coach, the Levitating Spectators, the Haunted Balloon Basket, the Flying Screen and other levitation tricks.
For seven years, Peter Marvey studied, designed and practiced for his first flying illusion, “Dream Flying”. He invented a system which allowed him to turn and move while flying in more directions than had been achieved before. He made it possible to fly in bright light, for the first time in magic’s history. He was the first magician to have changed his costume in mid air, in the fraction of a second. Marvey performed “Dream Flying” the first time in Perpignan, France, in October 1999, for a magic convention.
In the following years, Marvey created six further systems to achieve the same illusion for live productions, TV and special conditions. Marvey performed the flying illusion live on TV in 2001. For an exhibition event in Bremen in 2002 he developed a flying which allowed him to fly over the audience.
In 2005, Peter Marvey designed a flying illusion for singer Ayumi Hamasaki. In the Saitama arena in Tokyo and later on in other stadiums, the singer appeared to fly for 60 meters, together with two dancers in a turning ball above the audience.
In 2006, Marvey presented a flying illusion with dolphins for the Japanese TV channel TBS. In 2007, Marvey created the "Flying Coach" illusion for a leading indoor international horse show, the CSI Zurich.[1] The floating coach was pulled by seven horses, and escorted by fairies with huge wings, all in white. About 40,000 spectators had the chance to see this illusion from all around the arena.
Aside from flying illusions, Marvey has created many levitation systems. These include the levitation of spectators live on stage and floating objects which can be watched at close range.
Other grand illusions in his shows include being cut in half at the waist. The legs are on a unicycle which circles the stage, disconnected from the upper body. In another illusion, he dons a Superman-like costume and appears to shorten his legs to less than half their normal length.
Marvey is also a champion prestidigitator, able to make cards appear out of thin air and disappear again.
Achievements and awards
Marvey has won awards in several international magical competitions, where performers are judged by magic experts and prominent people from show business. Prince Albert of Monaco presented him with the Golden Wand trophy in 1996. Marvey received the Merlin Award of the International Magicians Society in 2002. He won third prize in the Grand Prix Manipulation category at the 19th world championship of the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques (FISM) in 1994 in Yokohama, Japan.[2] In 1993, he received an award from The Society of American Magicians.[3] He was Swiss National Champion for 1993-1995.
In 2009, Marvey opened a 99-seat theater in Feusisberg (near Pfäffikon, Schwyz), Switzerland. He regularly performs there and the theatre can be booked for private shows[4]