Self-described as "a composer, sound artist, community arts partner and educator," Judith Shatin holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School and a doctorate from Princeton University. Since 1979 she has been a professor at the University of Virginia, where she heads the Center for Computer Music.

Shatin has composed for a wide range of genres, from solo instrumental to choral, band to chamber opera, film to electroacoustic and installation works. Her work has received much critical acclaim. Secret Ground, her chamber work inspired by Martin Buber's I and Thou for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello, was lauded by The Washington Post as "highly inventive music on every level; hugely enjoyable and deeply involving with a constant sense of surprise." Fanfare called her a composer "possessed of a strong and original voice."

A recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the the Arts, the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, and the New Jersey State Arts Council, Shatin has also received commissions from—to name a few—the Library of Congress, the Kronos Quartet, Ensemble Barcelona Nova Musica, and the newEar Ensemble, and served on the boards of the American Composers Alliance and the International Alliance for Women in Music.