In April of 1941, Laila Storch auditioned for Tabuteau at the Curtis Institute and was notified the following April of her acceptance for the 1942-43 school year. However, a few weeks later, she received a letter from Curtis that the entire wind department was to be eliminated the coming fall due to loss of income. In reaction, Laila’s mother, Juanita Storch, sent the letter below to Curtis. It is followed by Curtis’ reply. [Not to be daunted, in January, Laila traveled to Philadelphia to study privately with Marcel Tabuteau.]
Letters provided courtesy of Barbara J. Benedett, Senior Archivist, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Aloysia Friedman, Laila’s daughter.
In 1999, Laila Storch sent Marc Mostovoy a letter with an interesting story she remembered about Tabuteau from 1946 when she was playing with the National Symphony:
