Dr. Laurel Swinden

Praised for her “sweet and distinct tone…” breathtaking in colour” (Whole Note), Laurel’s recent recital presentations include performances at the National Flute Association Convention, China’s Sichuan Conservatory, the Canadian Flute Convention, and the Perimeter Institute. Equally at home with 18th century through 21st century repertoire, Laurel has premiered contemporary works for flute, and flute with electronics, on concert series throughout the United States, with performances broadcast on NPR. Laurel Swinden holds the chairs of Principal Flute of the Stratford Symphony Orchestra and Associate Principal/Solo piccolo of the Scarborough Philharmonic. Dr. Swinden has performed with numerous orchestras across Ontario and in the southern United States.

Laurel is an Instructor of Flute at Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph. She is a former faculty member of the Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music. Dr. Swinden has taught a private studio of flute students from early ages through adult for over 20 years. She also trained as a Kindermusik educator and Orff Level 1 Instructor, teaching group early childhood and Recorder/Orff classes, as well as private recorder. She teaches Suzuki flute at the Beckett School at Laurier (Waterloo), in Cambridge, Ontario and in Guelph, Ontario at the the Guelph Youth Music Centre.

Dr. Swinden’s CD, Celebrating Women!: Music for Flute and Piano by Women Composers with pianist Stephanie Mara, assisted by a grant from the Waterloo Region Arts Fund, garnered critical acclaim and is available on CD Baby and iTunes. The Canada Council generously supported a second recording of the Celebrating Women Project, featuring works entirely by Canadian women composers. You can find these recordings on CDBaby, Spotify, SoundCloud, Youtube, AppleMusic and CBCMusic.

Dr. Swinden earned a DMA in Flute Performance as a Fellowship recipient at the University of Toronto, where she studied with Nora Schulman and traverso with Alison Melville. Her dissertation explores eighteenth-century Scottish music for flute.