Judith Shatin

Composer Judith Shatin is renowned for her richly imagined music that seamlessly spans acoustic and digital realms. Called “highly inventive on every level” by The Washington Post, her music combines an adventurous approach to timbre with dynamic narrative design and a keen awareness of the sonic landscape of modern life. She draws on multiple fascinations with literature, the visual arts, the sounding world (both natural and human-made), and music’s social and communicative power to craft a clear, direct musical language that resonates with performers and audiences worldwide.

Described as “powerful and distinctive” by Fanfare and “both engaging and splendidly controlled” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Shatin’s music has been commissioned by organizations such as the Barlow Endowment, the Fromm Foundation, Carnegie Hall, and The Library of Congress, and by acclaimed ensembles including Kronos Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Players, Hexagon Ensemble, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and the Young People’s Chorus of NYC. The American Composer’s Orchestra and the Knoxville, Minnesota, and National Symphonies, among many others, have programmed and commissioned her works. Her compositions are performed in concert halls around the world such as Carnegie Hall, The Concertgebouw, The Kennedy Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Tel Aviv Opera house; and featured at festivals including Aspen, BAM Next Wave, Grand Teton, Moscow Autumn, Seal Bay, Spring in Havana, and West Cork.

The recipient of four National Endowment for the Arts Composer Fellowships and grants from the American Music Center, Meet the Composer and the Virginia Commission for the Arts, Shatin also garnered major support from the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Arts Partners Program for the creation of her folk oratorio COAL. She has held fellowships for creative residencies at Bellagio, Brahmshaus, Casa Zia Lina, La Cité Internationale des Arts, MacDowell, Mishkan Omanim, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and Yaddo.

Shatin’s music is published by C.F. Peters, Colla Voce, E.C. Schirmer, Hal Leonard and Wendigo Music. Her work appears on over 30 commercial recordings from the Centaur, Innova, Navona, Neuma, New World Records, Ravello, and Sonora labels.

Shatin holds degrees from Douglass College (B.A.), The Juilliard School (M.M.), and Princeton University (MFA, Ph.D.). She is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emerita at the University of Virginia, where she founded the Virginia Center for Computer Music.

Biography taken from composer’s website.
Photo: Sarah Cramer Shields