“An internationally acclaimed flutist and pioneer of Seattle’s new music community, Paul Taub died at his home in Seattle on March 13 after a heart attack. He was 68,” writes Thomas May in last Thursday’s (3/18) Seattle Times. “Taub’s passion for new music remained incandescent to the end. He had been planning to perform a world premiere at the spring festival held by the Seattle Flute Society, where he served as director-at-large…. In 1989, Taub founded Seattle Chamber Players, a wind and string ensemble in which [musicologist Elena Dubinets, Seattle Symphony’s former vice president of artistic planning] played a prominent role as adviser. Three Seattle Symphony musicians joined Taub to form its core: clarinetist Laura DeLuca, violinist Mikhail Shmidt and cellist David Sabee…. Seattle Chamber Players established an international presence, commissioning close to 100 compositions and touring four continents. The ensemble also presented a biannual new music festival, called Icebreaker…. After completing graduate studies at California Institute of the Arts, [Taub] had initially been drawn to Seattle in 1979 by an invitation to teach at Cornish College of the Arts; he remained a professor there for close to four decades.” He is survived by his wife, Susan K. Peterson, and a brother, Fred Taub.
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