Close-up magic in Chicago is performed at conversational distance — in the guest's hands, at their table, with nothing between them and the moment. Matteo Cammisa performs close-up magic at Chicago corporate evenings, private dinners and receptions.
Chicago has real close-up history. This is a city where magic was worked at bar rails and steakhouse tables for decades before anyone put the word 'immersive' on an invitation, and the audience carries that memory: guests here are less surprised that close-up magic exists, and considerably more interested in whether it is done well.
That raises the bar in exactly the right way. Material does not carry an evening in front of people who have seen a card trick before — the reading of the room does. Which group wants to be astonished and which wants to be charmed, which guest should hold the card, when a table is mid-story and should be left alone entirely: that judgement is the actual product.
The practical case is the same one that makes the format work everywhere, sharpened by Chicago's venues: private dining rooms, clubs, galleries and rooftops with no AV to speak of. Close-up needs no stage, no sightlines, no sound and no power, so the rooms that defeat staged entertainment are simply not a problem.
And the winters are an argument nobody makes out loud: from November to March, Chicago evenings live indoors, seated, at tables — which is precisely where table-to-table magic is strongest.
Matteo moves through the room during drinks or dinner and performs for small groups at a time. No stage, no microphone, no soundcheck — the whole show happens at arm's length. Typically booked from 30 minutes to two hours, sized to the cocktail hour or the dinner it covers.
From $2,500
A seated, focused piece for the full room, built around thought, choice and influence rather than props. Runs 20 to 30 minutes and works as the pivot between dinner and the rest of the evening.
From $3,000
A full theatrical set for a seated audience, with close-up work projected live to screen where the room is large enough to need it.
On request
At eighteen inches, in good light, with the guest holding the props, the work is either clean or it is not — there is nowhere to hide. That honesty is why the format survives in rooms where budget is not the constraint.
It reaches a room gradually: sixty to a hundred guests across an hour, at very high intensity, and those guests describe it to the rest. The reactions are the marketing.
Matteo Cammisa is a member of The Magic Circle in London, of FISM — the international federation of magic societies — and of the Society of American Magicians. Twenty years of performing, more than 500 events, over 30 countries.
Watch — Matteo Cammisa X Million — live at a private celebrity event
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A performer who works for small groups at conversational distance rather than for a seated audience from a stage — cards, coins, borrowed objects, sometimes nothing at all, in the guest's own hands. Because it needs no stage, sound or lighting, it fits into the parts of a Chicago evening that would otherwise be dead time: drinks, the gaps between courses, the turn of a room.
Roughly 60 to 100 in an hour, depending on whether the room is seated or standing. Seated dinners — the default shape of a Chicago winter evening — are the more efficient case, because the groups are fixed. For substantially larger rooms, the usual answer is a seated mentalism piece for everyone at once, with close-up before or after.
Those are the natural Chicago settings and the easiest ones. Nothing is set up, nothing arrives in cases, no space is taken over, and ordinary room lighting is enough. The performance happens at the table, between courses, inside the evening's own rhythm.
Almost everything except the word. A party magician performs a set: the same routine, in the same order, whoever is in the room. What Matteo does is closer to hosting — the material is chosen live for the people in front of him, it is built to be photographed, and it is timed around your evening rather than interrupting it. The practical difference shows up in the details: how he dresses, how he works with your planner, whether he needs anything from the venue, and what the room sounds like ten minutes after he leaves.
Bookings start from $2,500. The figure moves with the format, the length of the evening, the number of guests and where in the world the event is. Fees are quoted per event rather than per hour, because what you are booking is presence across a window of the evening, not a block of stage time. Tell Matteo the date, the city and roughly how many guests, and you will have a firm figure within 24 hours.
Yes — Matteo Cammisa performs worldwide, year-round, and has done so at more than 500 events across over 30 countries. Wherever the event is, send the date, the city and roughly how many guests, and you will have availability and a firm figure within 24 hours. Where travel applies, it is quoted separately and transparently.
Send the date, the city and roughly how many guests. You will have availability and a firm figure within 24 hours.
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