The name Marcel Tabuteau is known to every professional woodwind player in the United States. In a country whose musical and orchestral life was without national character, but rather a mixture of many diverse European ideas, Marcel Tabuteau brought into being a style and school of woodwind playing that has become a distinguishing feature of American orchestras. In the fall of 1915 Tabuteau began his career with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. This was the beginning of a golden era, one of those rare periods to be found in all the arts, in which all the elements seemed to be just right for the emergence of something truly unique. The right men in the right place at the right time - Daniel Bonade, Walter Guetter, William Kincaid, Leopold Stokowski, Marcel Tabuteau - they set standards by which orchestra players the world over are still judged.

Mr. Tabuteau was engaged by the Curtis Institute at its founding in 1924 and, until his retirement in 1954, he taught Oboe, Woodwind Ensemble, Orchestral Winds and Percussion Class and String Classes. It was during this time that his concepts were crystallized and his brilliant ability to communicate with young musicians of that period captivated and radically transformed the music of all those who came under his influence.