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Idit Shner
(541) 346-3775
ishner@uoregon.edu

Idit Shner joined the UO music faculty in 2005, where she is an instructor of jazz and classical saxophone. Shner holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oklahoma City University, a master’s degree in music education from University of Central Oklahoma, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas.

While with the University of Central Oklahoma, she directed their Jazz Band III. During her studies at the University of North Texas she was competitively awarded a teaching fellowship, through which she taught applied saxophone and directed the Nine O’Clock Lab Band and the Four O’Clock Lab Band.  

An active performer of both jazz and classical music, Shner has played in various distinguished venues in the United States and abroad, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Lincoln Center in New York.

As an avid classical saxophonist Idit has commissioned and recorded new music and performed solo recitals in the U.S. and Israel. She recently performed at the Northwest Percussion Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, and North American Saxophone Alliance convention. During 2006 she played in Israel as a featured soloist with a symphonic orchestra, and performed contemporary music at the national convention of the Society for Electro Acoustic Music in the US. Her last solo recital in Israel (January 2005) was broadcast live on Voice of Music, a national public radio station.

Shner plays her own jazz compositions with her quartet in Eugene and Portland. During 2005–06 she frequently played lead alto with Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra. In 2004–05 she competitively obtained the lead alto chair with the Two O’clock Lab Band, under the direction of James Riggs at the University of North Texas. Performing her own compositions in a jazz combo setting, Shner was selected to participate in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead (2005).