Los Angeles Times - December 27, 2009
HOMETOWN USA: ALBUQUERQUE

A sacred harmony
You could call the Church of Beethoven a weekly concert series.
But that doesn't quite cover it.
By Kate Linthicum

It is a church without preaching, and without prayer.

At its Sunday morning services there is something spiritual, all right, but it doesn't have to do with Allah, or Buddha, or God.

Instead, it comes from music, from passionate renditions of works composed by Brahms and Bach and, of course, Beethoven -- for whom the church is named.

Each week the Church of Beethoven's musical performances draw a committed group of art-loving locals. The service, which also features poetry, visual art and other types of music, is at home in Albuquerque, a city known for its eccentricities (its nickname: Albu-quirky) as well as for being a crossroads of culture.

Most regulars at the Church of Beethoven are not religious, said founder Felix Wurman, but are simply "people looking to be uplifted on a Sunday morning." It's not really a church, of course, but it's not quite a standard concert series either. Its intent, Wurman said, is part entertainment, part spiritual awakening.

Wurman, 51, was a cellist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra when, two years ago, he played a church gig that inspired him. It wasn't the theology he liked -- Wurman isn't religious. It was the ecstasy of the music, and the warmth of the parishioners enjoying it together.

He had an idea: "How about a church that has music as its principle element, rather than as an afterthought?"

He recruited other musicians from the symphony, and together, in an abandoned gas station off old Route 66, they began playing concerts each Sunday.

More and more people started coming ("I just leave here feeling really soul-satisfied," explained one regular, Veronica Reed, 68, who said it was a treat to see symphony members perform up close), and after a couple of years, the concert series outgrew the space.

Its current home, a renovated warehouse in downtown Albuquerque, is rather cathedral-like, with warm red walls, vaulted wood ceilings and stained glass windows.

Wurman no longer runs the show. He was diagnosed with cancer last year, and he now lives in North Carolina, where he is undergoing treatment. Recently, the Church of Beethoven hosted a fundraiser to help pay his medical bills.

"His sickness caused a lot of us to crawl out of the woodwork and help," said Don Michaelis, a volunteer.

Michaelis, 65, said the church's momentum had not slowed in Wurman's absence.

"Felix's illness has made the people who remain more committed to seeing this succeed," he said.

Michaelis and his wife, Pamela, rarely miss a Sunday. Not long ago they stood chatting with friends in the warehouse, waiting for the performance-service to begin. A masseuse gave free massages in the corner while baristas served up lattes at an espresso bar.

When the emcee, David Felberg, took the stage, the crowd of 100 or so took their seats. First on the menu this morning, Felberg said, was Polka Dot Dot Dot, a band from Olympia, Wash.

With artsy haircuts, tattoos and piercings, the band looked more suited for a punk rock show than a church service. But their set of quiet songs with pretty harmonies had everyone in the audience nodding along. When they finished, the crowd clapped and hooted.

"I felt that people's hearts were really wide open," said a band member who goes by the name Onyx of Olympia. "It's the kind of church that I can really get down with."

Next up was a local poet, Demetria Martinez. The audience hung on her spare verse, which alluded to New Mexico's landscape and to its history of Spanish colonization.

The reading was a spiritual experience for Martinez, she said later. "Poetry is how I pray," said Martinez, 49. "And reading it is ceremony and ritual. It's communion."

For the final act, Felberg, 40, picked up his viola and called up the other classical musicians. They launched into Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, three lively, emotional movements composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The musicians, sitting just a few feet from the front row of spectators, worked furiously at their instruments, and many in the audience swayed their heads and tapped their fingers in time.

When the last note sounded, everyone stood and cheered.

Don and Pamela Michaelis wore smiles.

Pamela, 65, said she had felt the music "in the cavities" of her chest. She said she thinks the point of religion is to feel a part of something. The Church of Beethoven, she said, provides that. "That's what music is," she said. "It's something bigger than us."

Earlier, before the propulsive melodies of the Brandenburg concerto, the service devoted to sound had taken a break for just the opposite: Felberg stood before the crowd and asked for quiet.

Some in the audience clasped their hands. Most closed their eyes. Don Michaelis later said he thought of Felix Wurman.

And for a few hushed minutes, it felt like church.

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Gramophone Magazine - June 2009

Given the rise of classical music in alternative venues, it will be no surprise that one of the newest takes place in a church that isn’t a church. It’s Felix Wurman’s Church of Beethoven in Albuquerque, New Mexico, now  in its second season in a custom‑ designed warehouse with vaulted ceilings and seating for 150. There, Wurman says, “we plan to produce more music, more poetry and move into other areas of the humanities and health‑related fields.” One programme in March was Debussy’s String Quartet, percussion music performed by Hovey Corbin and Steve Chavez, and poetry read by Zachary Kluckman. “Come at 9.30am for coffee,” the announcement read. “Music begins at 10.30 sharp.” 

A New Church:
Weekly event held at The Filling Station features music, poetry and readings

by David Steinberg (Journal Staff Writer)

Traveling south on Fourth Street from Albuquerque's Central Avenue, you'll encounter the Episcopal Church of St. John, the First United Methodist Church, the Sacred House Catholic Church and the Potter's House-Christian Fellowship Ministries. At Fourth and Pacific SW add a new "church" to the list. It's the "Church of Beethoven," the idea of entrepreneur and cellist Felix Wurman. Wurman has been producing an hourlong mix of music, poetry and readings for the past twelve Sunday mornings at the arts venue called the Filling Station. More than 90 people filled the seats at Sunday's performance.

The event featured four musicians, Wurman among them, playing a Ludwig van Beethoven string quartet, Scott Vehill's reading from Jack Kerouac's book "On the Road," accordionists Carlosaur and Eva Ave (their stage names) leading patrons in a singalong of the old rock song "Down on the Corner" and violinist Carmelo de los Santos, who teaches at the University of New Mexico, soloing on Francisco Tarrega's "Recuerdos de la Alahambra." Most audience members sat in the tiered seats surrounding the performers in a space that was once a two-bay auto repair garage.

"The music is amazing. It's as good as it gets in Albuquerque," said Tina Carlson, who attended Sunday's presentation with her husband, Tim Sleigh, and their eleven-year-old daughter Mia Lin.

Carlson likes the fact that the the events are no more than one hour. "It's like eating a bite of really good dessert," she said. Scott Alley, who was in the audience with her neighbor Pat Hess, thinks the event "is a great start to the week. You come out feeling great."

In the middle of the performance, two minutes of silence were observed and Wurman passed a hat to raise money to help pay the musicians, to cover the cost of the coffee and tea (provided by EspressoArtists) served free before the 10:30 a.m. start and, of course, to pay the rent on the space.

"We're committed to keeping going," Wurman said. "We're like a church. You expect it to be there every Sunday morning without fail."

David Felberg, associate concertmaster of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and a violinist in the Beethoven quartet, said, "I love the format, the variety."

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Reprinted from the Duke City Fix April 27,2008

Beethoven in Barelas!

by Teresa Blankmeyer Burke

On Sunday morning I woke up late, threw on jeans and a sweater, and dashed down 4th Street to check out one of the newest happenings in Barelas – the Church of Beethoven. Last week I stumbled upon this story in the Daily Lobo, and promised myself the next time I was in town I’d check it out.

In case you’ve missed the local press coverage on the Church of Beethoven, the 'church' was founded about twelve weeks ago by Felix Wurman, a cellist with the NMSO. People like to describe it as "not church, not Beethoven”, but a mélange of classical music, spoken word/poetry, and a little silence - with complimentary coffee and tea service before the show. The first thing I noticed upon approaching the Filling Station was this was a different sort of crowd than usually frequents Barelas – more Anglo, more middle class, more arts patrons than starving working artists, though there were undoubtedly several attendees who rely on at least one of the nine muses for a living.

Scanning the crowd, I didn’t see anyone that I recognized from the neighborhood, which isn’t too unusual with Barelas arts events – be they at the Petting Zoo, the Rio Grande Zoo, or Out‘chYonda, each draws a different sort of crowd to the ‘hood, which is fine by me.  I queued up at the free tea and coffee line, striking up a conversation with a couple in line who had traveled south from Santa Fe to attend the service. We talked about looking forward to the Rail Runner extension from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and our hopes for weekend trains. I have to admit this was the first time I’d considered folks in Santa Fe might be trekking south with Barelas as their destination After getting my java fix in an eco-friendly ceramic cup, I ventured into the performance space. With matte black paint on the walls, structural posts wrapped in burlap and mesh, a hodgepodge of risers and chairs ordered in rows - including a few upholstered seats that looked as if they’d been pulled from an old Chevy, the place didn’t look much different from the performance space up the street Once the music started, though, I knew I was in a different place.

Music and Barelas have been kissing cousins for a long time. Over the past century, Barelas has produced more than its share of local musicians specializing in New Mexican music – you can tune in these classic NM sounds at 89.1 KANW on weekday afternoons. And more recently, there are the NMSO performances at the National Hispanic Culture Center, and Zoo Music at the RG Zoo.

Since we’ve been in Barelas, we’ve heard everything from the strains of live mariachi music wafting over the backyard fence, to electric jazz and blues, to something best described as garage band Christian rock on a flatbed semi-truck at the Potter’s House Church. (Imagine the lyrics of “Proud Mary” amended to “Proud Jesus” playing loud enough to set your windows to vibrating and you get the picture It is not too often that Bareleños get the kind of music featured at the Church of Beethoven – I usually venture north on 4th Street a few blocks to the Cathedral of St John to get these kinds of classical tunes on a Sunday morning, but my attendance has fallen by the wayside since organist Bruce Barber left for greener pastures in Chicago.

Once upon a time, I considered majoring in music. I studied classical piano for 14 years, finally concluding that a progressive hearing loss was not compatible with studying music in college. (I had enough smarts to recognize that the oft-cited example of late-deafened Beethoven did not apply to yours truly!) Since my ears are not what they once were, it would be unfair for me to comment in detail on the musical offerings at the Church of Beethoven, save to say that the music was superb -- even with my limited hearing mediated by high-end digital hearing aids. Enthusiastic audience reaction at the end of each piece cemented these impressions, reinforced by the snippets of musician shoptalk overheard after the performance/service.

In addition to music, the morning show included Scott Vehill of Chicago’s Prop Thtr channeling Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (you can catch his performance next weekend at the Filling Station) and two minutes of silence, which you can use as you see fit. (I spent the time generating random thoughts prompted by the Rorschach-like grease spots on the floor – as anyone with a hearing loss knows, closing one’s eyes during group silence is risky business.)  The silence and the offering were the most “church-y” components, in case you have an aversion to this kind of ritual, but this didn’t last long, just a few minutes. Founder Felix Wurman keeps things moving along at an energetic pace and the length of the ‘service’ at about an hour is just right, in my opinion If you are the kind of person who likes the idea of eclectic Sunday morning sounds, you may want to check out the Church of Beethoven in the heart of Barelas (at the NE corner of 4th Street and Pacific Avenue SW
View Larger Map"">). Coffee and tea are served at 10:00AM and the show begins at 10:30AM. For those of you who are fellow opera geeks, next week promises to be especially good – LeRoy Lehr, of the Metropolitan Opera (yup, that’s the one in NYC), will be performing selections from the Magic Flute and the Fantastiks.
Get there early – this is likely to draw a considerable crowd!

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Reprinted from Albuquerque The Magazine - April 2008

Music and the Spirit

By Mel Minter

Felix Wurman, a member of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, used to be a turtle. But that was a long time ago. Now he's a bishop. Of course, he's always been a cellist with a mind of his own, which is exactly how he came to be both. "Ever since I was a kid, I've been thinking about how to program stuff, because to me, putting it in the right context is more than half the job," he says. "I always felt constrained. Every environment I was in-be it theatrical environment, be it a church-{I felt} that there was somehow something uncomfortable."

Back in the '80's, Wurman had the idea of traveling with his own environment, "the whole theater really being part of the show, kind of like a circus," he says. On that idea he founded the successful but now defunct piano quartet Domus, named for the geodesic dome they-turtlelike-carried with them. Large enough to accommodate a couple hundred people, the dome was easily assembled by the musicians anywhere suitable.

"I want to have a scenario in which the music can touch people," Wurman says. "Isn't that what we all want?" Which is how Wurman became a bishop of sorts, founding the Church of Beethoven.It's not really a church, thougfh it does convene on Sunday mornings, and in it's first weeks of existence, no sign of Beethoven has been sent, though that could change. The Church of Beethoven is, however, the newest and certainly the quirkiest weekly concert series in Albuquerque, featuringmusicians from the Symphony and elsewhere, as well as regular poets and possibly other sorts of performers as the series develops.

The proceedings convene at 9:30 am at the Filling Station, a small theater space reclaimed from an old garage, and home to the Mother Road Theater, at 1024 4th St. SW. Excellent free coffees and teas are served which begins at 10:30.(Wurman is a coffee caterer, too, with professional equipment and highly skilled baristas. Music has included works by Bach, Kodaly, Messiaen, Mozart, among others, as well as singalongs tp traditional and popular music. Admission is free, and an offering is taken. Give generously.

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Reprinted from The Daily Lobo February 28,2008

Church Minus the Religion

"Beethoven" is painted on a big yellow surfboard that sits on a fence Sunday mornings at 1024 Fourth Street S.W. It's a sign for the Church of Beethoven, where cellist Felix Wurman hosts a free, nonreligious, 45-minute music and spoken word service at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday. "It's a close second to high mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris," said Al Pons, who attended Sunday's service.

The Church of Beethoven isn't quite church, and there isn't much Beethoven.
Wurman likes to use a Jerry Seinfeld quote to explain. "I don't understand why they call this product Grape Nuts," he said. "There are no grapes; there are no nuts."

The program has a theme each week. On Sunday, in front of 75 people, the theme was folk music. There was a Bob Dylan sing-along, like a church hymnal, which was preceded by a poet reciting a piece about Bob Dylan in a Dylanesque accent.
Wurman, who performs with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, played a piece with David Felberg by Zoltan Kodaly, a Hungarian composer and philosopher who played folk music. They passed around a collection plate and closed with a riveting performance of "Stars and Stripes."

It's a makeshift setup, with rows of chairs on black wooden slabs that rise up toward the back. Black curtains hang on the walls, and there's a spiderweb-type mesh cloth in front of blue and yellow lights that shine on the performers, who stand in the middle of the dimly lit room. Espresso Artists, Wurman's mobile coffee company, is set up in the corner of the room, and a girl serves espresso in little colorful cups. Behind the floor-stage, there are some tables and chairs.

Carin Holzscheiter took a break from her usual Sunday biking and hiking routine to attend the performance. "We came from Santa Fe to hear this," she said. "It's definitely worth the trip. If it wasn't so far, we'd come every Sunday."

Felix studied the cello in Europe for 10 years after high school. "I was also in Europe during the explosion of the early music scene, so that was very interesting," Wurman said. "All of the classical music and earlier and even on into Beethoven and Brahms was being reinterpreted from the historical point of view. They were using early instruments, trying to put things back into the way it was when the pieces were composed. But I was blending classical music and street theater."

This Sunday, they will be visited by the spirit of a funerary violinist, channeled through Felberg and his violin. "We're going to be visited by Hieronymous Gratchenfleiss," Wurman said. "He's like the prophet of the Church of Beethoven. He's long dead. During his life, he played at funerals."

The Sunday after that, Matt Haimovitz, an Israeli-born international cello star, will expand upon his Saturday night performance at El Rey for the Church of Beethoven. "I offered my services for his show, and he offered his," Wurman said. "He thought the Church of Beethoven sounded really cool."He anticipates the services will grow and change as more people become involved."It's not a fixed," he said. "The only requirement is a high level of artistry. It's short and it's high-level. That's what we're after."He likened planning each Sunday to putting together a dinner.

"Programming is so important - trying to find the right pieces to go together, what goes with what, what people want to hear," he said. "But the sense of it is like planning a meal. That's the best analogy. What are we going to have for the main course, the wine, the dessert? It's so important to get that right, and I think so many times it's not gotten right. The other thing is it's important that it doesn't cost anything. It's a free-will donation. We need to raise money to do this."

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Reprinted from the Alibi V.17 No.8 February 21-27, 2008