{{Short description|American oboist (1921–2022)}} '''Laila Storch''' (February 28, 1921 – December 2, 2022) was an American oboist.

==Biography== She was the first woman oboist to graduate from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where she studied with Marcel Tabuteau.<ref>{{cite web|title=Curtis Alumni Award Presented to Robert Fitzpatrick (Clarinet '68) and Laila Storch (Oboe '45)|url=http://www.curtis.edu/about-curtis/press-media-room/news-archive/2009-1/michael-nutter-robert-levin-are-featured-speakers-at-curtis-commencement-on-may-16.html|publisher=Curtis Institute of Music|access-date=16 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911045721/http://www.curtis.edu/about-curtis/press-media-room/news-archive/2009-1/michael-nutter-robert-levin-are-featured-speakers-at-curtis-commencement-on-may-16.html|archive-date=11 September 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Career=== Storch was the principal oboist for the Houston Symphony Orchestra,<ref>{{cite book|last=Burgess|first=Geoffrey|title=The Oboe|year=2004|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, Conn|pages=207}}</ref> Carmel Bach Festival, the Bethlehem Bach Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, and the Casals Festivals. Additionally, she played with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Philharmonic, and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. She was professor of oboe at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, for many years at the University of Washington and guest professor at Indiana University as well as the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. She was one of the longest serving members of the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Storch published a biography of her mentor Marcel Tabuteau, longtime Curtis Institute faculty member and world-renowned solo oboist (1915–1954) of the Philadelphia Orchestra, titled ''How Do You Expect to Play the Oboe If You Can’t Peel a Mushroom?'' (Indiana University Press).<ref name="Curtisobit">{{cite press release | url=https://www.curtis.edu/news/curtis-mourns-the-loss-of-pioneering-oboist-laila-storch-45/ | title=Curtis Mourns the Loss of Pioneering Oboist Laila Storch ('45) | publisher=Curtis Institute of Music | date=7 December 2022 | access-date=2022-12-12}}</ref>

Storch died on Orcas Island, Washington, on December 2, 2022, aged 101.<ref name="Curtisobit" />

[[File:Beethoven Prometheus Creatures Op. 43 No. 14 - Solo della signora Cassentini.oga|thumb|center|570px|Beethoven's ''Prometheus Creatures'' Op. 43. No. 14: ''Solo della signora Casentini''. Oboe: L. Storch. Basset horn: William McColl. Piano: Anita Cummings. Meany Theatre, 21 April 1986.]]

==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last=Storch |first=Laila |date=2008 |title=Marcel Tabuteau: How Do You Expect to Play the Oboe If You Can't Peel a Mushroom? |url=http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1037_3025_3071&products_id=54606 |location=Bloomington |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-34949-1|ref=none}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{discogs artist|Laila Storch}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}} {{Authority control|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Storch, Laila}} Category:1921 births Category:2022 deaths Category:American classical oboists Category:American women classical musicians Category:Curtis Institute of Music alumni Category:University of Washington faculty Category:Academic staff of the Central Conservatory of Music Category:Women oboists Category:American women centenarians Category:20th-century American women musicians Category:20th-century American classical musicians Category:Players of the Houston Symphony