ABOUT

A passionate performer, promoter, and curator of new music, pianist and composer Amy Wurtz has been creating, performing, and presenting music her entire life. She works to keep new music an integral part of everyday life and is highly active in Chicago’s music scene, acting as Curatorial Director for the 2025 Ear Taxi Festival, creating the Impromptu Fest, and curating New Music at the Green Mill for over a decade.  She is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor throughout the Chicago area and beyond, and works as conductor and pianist for the Sounds Good and Good Memories choir.   Amy has released four albums of her music, the latest being Cyclature, 26 works for solo piano, which features Chicago’s pianist community at large in this collaborative recording project. 

 

Amy Wurtz has been commissioned by the Chicago Composers’ Orchestra, the Elmhurst University Wind Ensemble, Access Contemporary Music, Composers’ Concordance, and many private individuals.  Her music is personal, expressive, and blends traditional elements of form, structure, and coherence with contemporary harmonies, textures and formats. Her music is often connected to people, events, and stories which she portrays through her highly expressive writing.

 

Amy comes from the California Bay Area, and studied piano with Louanne Long and composition with Alexandra Pierce at the University of Redlands, where she graduated with dual degrees summa cum laude.  She continued her study of both piano and composition with Alexander Braginsky and Judith Lang Zaimont at the University of Minnesota, once again earning dual degrees.  Her thirst for a deeper understanding of piano technique led her to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina for one year of intense study with renowned pianist Inés Gómez-Carrillo. 

 

Amy then moved to Cologne, Germany, from where she conducted the European premiere of her large-scale orchestra/choral work, Message from the Soul.  Since 2008 Amy has lived in Chicago where she is in demand as a soloist, chamber music collaborator, conductor, choral accompanist, curator and teaching artist.  She maintains a private studio, teaching both piano and composition, and is Adjunct Professor of Composition at Elmhurst University.  She is President ex officio of New Music Chicago and also works with Chicago Public Schools in their Choral and Instrumental Music programs.  She is one-half of the cello/piano Wurtz-Berger Duo, and produced their first two albums, Cello Dances at Night and Touching Rapture.