On Sunday, March 4, 1979, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia hosted a day long celebration to honor the memory of the great oboist and teacher, Marcel Tabuteau. This event was the third in the Institute's Faculty Commemorative Series. In 1978, Efrem Zimbalist, violinist and former director of the Curtis Institute was honored, and in 1977, harpist Carlos Salzedo was commemorated. In 1980 the composer Samuel Barber was similarly recognized. The Tabuteau celebration included concerts at 2:00 and 8:30 p.m. A display of Tabuteau memorabilia was on view during the day and a studio, since known as "The Marcel Tabuteau Room" was dedicated by Laila Storch.

A $10,000 check to found the Marcel Tabuteau Chair for Woodwind Studies at Curtis was presented during the afternoon concert by Mrs. Philip Klein on behalf of the Rittenhouse Square Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Orchestra, with John Minsker, long-time English horn player of the orchestra and Tabuteau pupil and colleague, as the first recipient.

John de Lancie, distinguished oboist and former Tabuteau student instituted the Faculty Commemorative Series. He is presently Director of Curtis, the first graduate of the school to hold this position. He was the gracious host of the celebration honoring Tabuteau.

The two concerts on March 4th included performances by a number of world renowned oboists who are all former students of Tabuteau at The Curtis Institute. They included Robert Bloom of the Juilliard School and often referred to as the dean of American oboists; Harold Gomberg, recently retired from the New York Philharmonic; Ralph Gomberg and Alfred Genovese, co-principal oboists of the Boston Symphony; John Mack, principal oboist of the Cleveland Orchestra; Laila Storch, oboist of the Soni Ventorum Quintet of the University of Washington; and Louis Rosenblatt, English horn player of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The programs in their entirety accompany this article.

Marcel Tabuteau was on the Curtis faculty for thirty years. His influence extended far beyond the scope of the oboe as he also taught woodwind, string, and orchestral classes. He was born in France in 1887 and died there in 1966. As an orchestral player he is a legend. Beginning in 1908 he played with Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Society (later the New York Philharmonic) and from 1908 to 1915 under Toscanini at the Metropolitan Opera. His greatest fame came during his tenure as first oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1915 to 1954 under Stokowski and Ormandy. As a teacher his influence was far reaching; at one time his pupils held first oboe chairs in seventeen important U.S. and Canadian orchestras.

The Tabuteau concerts received considerable press notice -- two articles, one from thePhiladelphia Inquirer and one from The Bulletin, are reproduced here.

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