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The Department of Music and Dance Program

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Shelley Foster Gurin

Education: Ph.D. (musicology), University of Wisconsin;
DM (composition), Northwestern University; Univ. of Iowa;
M.M. (piano pedagogy), Northwestern University; MM (trombone performance), Northwestern University BME (music education), Northwestern University.

Shelley Foster Gurin has been an active composer since 1977 and has been involved with music education since 1981. She was involved in the Chicago radio and television commercial recording industry during the 1980’s, first as a trombonist then as a composer/arranger/producer.

Gurin’s commissioned works include: Quartal Spaces, commissioned by THE COMMISSION PROJECT; LOVE, commissioned by David A. Cohen (private commission); Polyphonic Portrait, commissioned by the Highland Park Strings; Now I Who Saw, commissioned by the Michigan State University Children’s Choir; Time In!, a jazz band, strings and vocal piece commissioned by the Evanston Township High School Music Department; and Musical Formations, a symphonic band piece commissioned by Northbrook Illinois School District 28. Her documentary works include: Telling Truths (Holocaust), Inclusion for Educators (Special Education) and The Active Intellect (Northwestern University). Gurin’s orchestral piece Sentiments for Piccolo was a semi-finalist in the National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition and is also listed on the Texas All-State Solo List. She was the winner of the Sadie Rafferty National Composition Contest for her Jazz Band piece Absolutely!.

Gurin’s music has been performed and conducted by artists such as Walfrid Kujala of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jan Gippo of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the late conductor and educator John P. Paynter of Northwestern University and Don Owens, retired conductor of Jazz and Contemporary Music at Northwestern University. Ensembles that have performed her music include the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Highland Park Strings, Northwestern University Ensembles, the DePaul University Wind Symphony, Northshore Concert Band as well as Symphonic Bands in St. Louis Missouri, Racine Wisconsin, Wasilla Alaska and Sweden.

Shelley Foster Gurin

Courses: Instrumental Methods, Instrumental Clinical Field Experience, Instrumental Conducting, Basic Materials in Music Theory, Supervisor for Instrumental Student Teaching and Clinical Field Experience

Office: FA-134

Phone: 847-962-6179

E-mail:
Shelley Foster Gurin