Judith Shatin

Education: Ph.D., Princeton University, M.M. The Juilliard School, A.B. Douglass College.

Research interests: Composition and new technologies; psychology of music; music theory and criticism.

Judith Shatin's music is inspired by her explorations and extensions of timbre and by her investigations of the links between music, our perceptual capacities, and our emotional responses. She regards acoustic and computer technologies as providing a rich spectrum for her ongoing interaction with three major themes: timbral design, poetic intrepetation, and embodiment of identity. Her recent work includes sound sources ranging from a wooden loom (Penelope's Song) to animal calls (Singing the Blue Ridge) and machines, the latter as sound sources for her interactive installation Tree Music.

Educated at Douglass College (AB), The Juilliard School (MM) and Princeton University (PhD), she is known for both her acoustic and electroacoustic music. It has been commissioned by ensembles including the Ash Lawn Festival, Barlow Foundation, Core Ensemble, Jane Franklin Dance, Hexagon Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, National Symphony, newEar, and San Francisco Girls' Chorus, among others. It is published by Arsis Press, C.F. Peters, Hal Leonard, and MMB. She has received four NEA Composer Fellowships as well as grants from the American Music Center, Lila Acheson Wallace-Readers Digest Arts Partners Program (culminating in her folk oratorio COAL for chorus, Appalachian band, synthesizer and electronics; Meet the Composer; and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Twice a fellow at the Rockefeller Study Center in Bellagio, she has also held residencies at Brahmshuas, MacDowell, Mishkan Amanim, Yaddo and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She is frequently a guest composer at festivals such as the Grand Teton Music Festival and the New Directions Series at Austin Peay University. She has presented her work at numerous conferences including ICMC, NIME and SEAMUS. She has served as composition faculty at the Wellesely Composers Conference and the Chamber Music Conference of the East and is frequently invited to lecture on her work. Her music is recorded on Capstone (Piping the Earth); Innova (Dreamtigers); Sonora (Hearing the Call); and Neuma (Narcissus and Kairos).

Beyond her contributions as a composer, Judith Shatin is a strong advocate for her fellow composers. She serves on the Advisory Board of the International Alliance for Women in Music; served from 1989-93 as President of American Women Composers, Inc.; was for two terms a board member of the League of Composers/ISCM in New York; and served on the Board of the American Composers Alliance. At the University of Virginia she founded the Virginia Center for Computer Music in 1987 and continues to serve as its Director.