Close-up, guest to guest
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.
From $2,500
A close-up magician performs for small groups at conversational distance — in your hands, on your table, with nothing between the performance and the guest. There is no stage, no microphone and no soundcheck. Matteo Cammisa performs close-up magic at weddings, galas and corporate events worldwide, with bookings from $2,500.
What actually happens in the room
Close-up magic is the only form of the art that happens inside the guest's personal space. A card is signed and it is their signature. A ring comes off their own hand. Nothing is at a distance, nothing is announced, and there is no moment where the room is asked to stop and watch.
That changes what it is useful for. A stage show needs a stage, a sound system, sightlines and a point in the evening where everything else pauses. Close-up needs a room with people in it. Matteo moves through drinks or dinner and performs for six or eight guests at a time, then moves on, so the energy builds gradually across the evening instead of spiking once and collapsing.
It also changes who it works for. In a room of two hundred, a stage act reaches two hundred people at low intensity. Close-up reaches perhaps ninety of them across an hour, at very high intensity — and those ninety describe it to the rest. The reactions are the marketing, which is why the format survives in rooms where budget is not the constraint.
The practical consequence planners care about most: it fits into time you have already lost. Cocktail hour, the gap between ceremony and dinner, the stretch while a room is being turned — these are the parts of an event where guests are standing with a drink and nothing to do. Close-up magic occupies exactly that window without needing a minute of the formal programme.
How it is booked
Mentalism set piece
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 $2,500
Stage show
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
Why this is worth doing properly
Close-up magic is unusually easy to do badly and unusually hard to do well, because there is nowhere to hide. On a stage, lighting, sound and distance cover a great deal. At eighteen inches, in good light, with a guest holding the props, the work is either clean or it is not.
The material matters less than the reading of the room. Knowing which group wants to be astonished and which wants to be charmed, which guest should hold the card and which should absolutely not be singled out, when a table is mid-conversation and should be left alone — that judgement is what separates an evening guests remember from one they tolerate.
Matteo works in English, Italian and Hungarian, which in practice means an international room does not split into the guests who followed it and the guests who watched politely.
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
In the room
Frequently asked
What is a close-up magician?
A close-up magician performs for small groups at conversational distance rather than for a seated audience from a stage. The work happens in the guest's hands and on the table in front of them — cards, coins, borrowed objects, sometimes nothing at all. Because it needs no stage, sound or lighting, it fits into parts of an evening that would otherwise be dead time: drinks, the gap before dinner, the turn of a room.
How long does a close-up magician perform for?
Most events book 60 to 120 minutes, split across the evening rather than performed in one block. Ninety minutes is the format most destination weddings and corporate dinners choose: enough to reach every table without the room ever feeling worked. Matteo is present for longer than he performs — the gaps are deliberate, and they are what keeps the evening from feeling programmed.
How many guests can a close-up magician reach?
Roughly 60 to 100 guests in an hour, depending on how the room is arranged and whether people are seated or standing. Seated dinners are more efficient because the groups are fixed. For rooms substantially larger than that, the usual answer is not more close-up but a mentalism set piece or a stage show that reaches everyone at once, with close-up before or after it.
Does a close-up magician need a stage, sound or lighting?
No. That is the practical argument for the format. Matteo needs no stage, no microphone, no soundcheck and no changeover — which means no line item in the production budget, no negotiation with the venue and nothing that can fail on the night. Ordinary room lighting is enough. If anything, dim and intimate is better than bright.
What is the difference between a luxury magician and a party magician?
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.
How much does it cost to book Matteo Cammisa?
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.
Is Matteo available for events worldwide?
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.
Check your date
Send the date, the city and roughly how many guests. You will have availability and a firm figure within 24 hours.
Prefer to message directly? WhatsApp · management@matteocammisa.com
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