A French-American organist and musicologist, Carolyn Shuster Fournier studied the piano and the violin before specializing in the organ under the direction of Dr. Gary Zwicky. Gladys Christensen, Wolfgang Rübsam, Yuko Hayashi and Mireille Lagacé were also her professors. After obtaining a Bachelor of Music at Wheaton College with honors and a Master's degree at New England Conservatory in Boston. she continued her studies in Paris with Marie-Claire Alain, Michel Chapuis, André Isoir and Jean Saint-Arroman. She has also participated in the summer academies of Bernard Lagacé, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini and Francis Chapelet and taken private courses with André Fleury.

In 1986, she obtained a Master's Degree in Musical Education at the Paris Sorbonne. And in 1992, a Ph.D. in musicology was awarded to her by the Tours University. Her doctoral thesis on Aristide Cavaillé-Coll's secular organs, which received Olivier Messiaen's warmest congratulations, was published in the review L'Orgue. Her articles have appeared on both sides of the Atlantic.

Organist at the American Cathedral in Paris, in 1989, she was named titular of the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at La Trinité Church where she founded their weekly Thursday noontime concert series.

An international concert artist, she has performed in Europe and in the United States... She has collaborated with composers such as Thierry Blondeau, Jacques Castérède, Jacques Chailley, Jacques Charpentier, Jean-Pierre Griveau, Hervé Lacombe, Jacques Lenot, Sébastien Maigne, Jean-Dominique Pasquet, Jacques Pichard and Daniel Pinkham.

Her CDs, recorded at the Versailles Cathedral by EMA (Distribution Socadisc), in Mainz by Schott and at the Madeleine Church in Paris by Ligia Digital (Distribution Harmonia Mundi), have been acclaimed by critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

The French Television Channel TF1 regularly broadcasts in its musical programs her performances of Concertos by G. F. Haendel and by Francis Poulenc. Alain Duault has invited her to his television program on France 3 "All of the music they love" /"Toute la musique qu'ils aiment"./

In 2007, the French Cultural Minister awarded her the distinction of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.