Laurel Kuxhaus
Oboe, English horn, Oboe d’amore in the Washington DC region
Oboist Laurel Kuxhaus has a passion for playing chamber and contemporary music as well as large ensemble work. Originally hailing from the Midwest, she has performed with both orchestras and wind ensembles across the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, with highlights that include the Clinton Symphony of the Mohawk Valley, the Northern Symphonic Winds, the Capital Wind Symphony, the Green Mountain Mahler Festival, and the Capital City Symphony. She has appeared as a soloist with the University of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the (North) Pittsburgh Philharmonic. Her enthusiasm for community organizing and bringing people together has led to the creation of the Aeolian Winds of Pittsburgh and the Potsdam Community Band. Her primary teachers, Dan Stolper and Treva Womble, inspired her love of a rich and resonant sound on the oboe and the lyricism of both the English horn and oboe d’amore.
Laurel is currently the principal oboe of the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic and performs regularly with 5th Floor, an adventurous wind quintet that takes great joy in bringing standards and hidden gems from the wind quintet literature to a live audience. She attends the Chamber Music and Composer’s Forum of the East each summer.
