Shawn William Davern is an American composer, arranger, conductor, trombonist and music educator. He currently serves as a third-year graduate teaching associate pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting at The Ohio State University (OSU) School of Music, under the direction of Russel C. Mikkelson. He also serves as the conductor of The OSU Professional School Orchestra and as co-director of the High Street Bones Trombone Ensemble.

Davern is the co-founder, leader, head writer and lead trombone of The Sages of Future Soul, a remote recording big band that performs contemporary jazz, funk and soul standards. The Sages of Future Soul recordings have featured artists such as Alexa Tarantino, David Amram, Adam Unsworth, Justin Kauflin and Chloe Swindler. Founded in 2020, the ensemble has gone on to be named a semi-finalist in the 2023 Petrichor Music Competition Large Ensemble Division, and the group made their international performance debut at the 57th International Horn Symposium in June 2025.

Prior to his appointment at Ohio State, Davern served as a performing arts instructor at the Manlius Pebble Hill School, where he oversaw the grade 3–12 concert band program and taught additional courses in music theory, keyboard and general music. He was the recipient of the 2017 Massachusetts Music Educators Association Promising Young Music Educator Award, and worked as the trombone workshop assistant at the 2019 Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Davern made his international conducting debut at the 55th International Horn Symposium in Montreal, Canada on his own composition commissioned for and performed by the NUCORNO Jazz horn ensemble. He has also appeared as a guest conductor with The OSU Trombone Choir, Double Reed Choir, Boston University (BU) Trombone Choir, BU Tanglewood Institute Trombone Choir, James Madison University (JMU) Trombone Choir, Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Band and the JMU Alumni Jazz Band.

Davern’s compositions and arrangements have been performed in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and South Korea. He is the editor and transcriber of The Music Method, a publication aimed to develop the artistry of the modern trombonist, authored by the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s principal trombone, Toby Oft. Davern is also a member of the Millennium Composers Initiative. His primary composition teachers are Eric Guinivan and Chuck Dotas. Davern’s composition entitled The Natural Lands: Suite for Tuba Euphonium Quartet was the recipient of the International Tuba Euphonium Association's 2019 R. Winston Morris Award for Excellence for Tuba Euphonium Composition. His composition for wind ensemble entitled An Elegant Sufficiency was named a finalist twice in the National Band Association William D. Revelli Composition Competition, and was performed at the Virginia Music Educators Association Conference by the Valley Wind Ensemble. The composition was also named a national finalist in both the American Prize in Composition Band/Wind Ensemble Professional Division and the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music.

In 2018, Davern’s arrangement of George Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm was performed live on NBC by the James Madison University Marching Royal Dukes for the 92nd Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. He has also arranged for the Boston Brass, with performances in collaboration with the JMU Marching Royal Dukes and the University of Missouri Marching Mizzou. Davern's works for trombone choir have been performed by the trombone choirs of Boston University, Eastman School of Music, Columbus (Georgia) State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the Ithaca College Trombone Troupe. His works have also been performed at the Third Coast Trombone Retreat, DC Trombone Workshop, Boston University Tanglewood Institute and Fruhling Posaunen at Ithaca College. Davern's jazz band compositions have been featured by the Boston University Big Band, the Royal College of Music Big Band, the JMU Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Band, Alumni Jazz Band, and the twelve-time Essentially Ellington Finalist Foxborough Jazz Ensemble. His works for jazz bands have been performed at the JMU George West Jazz Festival, the National Community Band Festival and the Jazz4Justice Festival in Washington, DC.

His Sonata for Trombone and Piano, entitled Nostalgia Bostonia, is featured on Brittany Lasch's debut album entitled Dark Horse, recorded in collaboration with Thomas Weaver, and released in May 2025. Davern’s new wind work entitled Homage to the Honor-bound was commissioned by Ian Zook and the International Horn Society, premiered in June 2025 by the U.S. Joint Service Horn Ensemble under the direction of Shawn Hagen. Davern is published by Cherry Classics Music, Warwick Music and Tyzik Music/Perelandra Music.

Davern received his bachelor’s degree in music education at Boston University; he also studied abroad at the Royal College of Music in London. He received his master’s degree in wind conducting at James Madison University, where he served as the graduate assistant of the university’s band program.