First of all, an explanation:

About the title - Stringing the Bow is the name of a Judith Shatin work from 1992 for string orchestra. Read David Schulman's program note about this marvelous work here. Click on Orchestral and Stringing the Bow.

The piece was commissioned by the Virginia Chamber Orchestra and recorded by the Moravian Philharmonic for Capstone Records.

Now, about Judith Shatin - Called "marvelously inventive" by the Washington Post and "exuberant and captivating" by the San Francisco Chronicle, Judith Shatin's music reflects her adventures as a timbral explorer. Her inspirations range from myth and poetry to the calls of the animals around us and the sounding universe beyond. Her music is internationally performed and has been featured at festivals including the Aspen, BAM Next Wave, Grand Teton, Havana in Spring, Moscow Autumn, Seal Bay, Ukraine and West Cork. Orchestras that have performed her music include the Denver, Houston, Illinois, Knoxville, Minnesota, National and Richmond Symphonies. Shatin's music can be heard on the Centaur, Neuma, New World and Sonora labels. It has been commissioned by groups including the Ash Lawn Opera, Barlow Foundation, Core Ensemble, Garth Newel Chamber Players, Kronos Quartet, Music-at-LaGesse Foundation, National Symphony, newEar, Hexagon Ensemble, Virginia Chamber Orchestra and Wintergreen Performing Arts, the last through Americans for the Arts.

Educated at Douglass College (AB), The Juilliard School (MM) and Princeton University (PhD), Judith Shatin is currently William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor and Director of the Virginia Center for Computer Music, which she founded at the University of Virginia. Additional studies included two summers as a Crofts Composition Fellow at Tanglewood, as well as studies at the Aspen Music Festival. Now an advocate for her fellow composers, she has served on the boards of the American Composers Alliance, the League/ISCM, and the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM). She also served as President of American Women Composers, Inc. (1989-93).

Shatin has been honored with four National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, as well as awards from the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, the New Jersey State Arts Council and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. A two-year retrospective of her music, and the commission for her folk oratorio, COAL, was sponsored by the Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Arts Partners Program. She has held residencies at Bellagio (Italy), Brahmshaus (Germany), La Cité des Arts (France),

Mishkan Amanim (Israel) and in the US at MacDowell, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Yaddo. Shatin's music is published by Wendigo Music, distributed by MMB Music Inc.; and by Arsis Press, C.F. Peters, Colla Voce and Hal Leonard.

During the summer of 2007, Judith will teach on the Semester-at-Sea program run by the University of Virginia. She will travel down the Pacific coast of Central and South America, as far as Chile, before turning back up and eventually landing in Mexico. There will be stops at all of the countries along the route. While on board the ship, she will teach two courses: Music Theory with a Latin American twist; and a Soundscape Composition (Intro to Computers and Music) course, with pieces made from sounds recorded on board the ship and at ports of call. It promises to be a wonderful (and excellent) adventure! For more about this exciting trip, visit here.

Judith Shatin's chamber and electroacoustic music will be heard in several performances this Summer:

On July 17, the Apple Hill Chamber Players will perform her Gazebo Music for flute and cello in Sullivan, New Hampshire

On July 18 at 11 PM, there will be a radio broadcast of a program of Judith's music on Siglo XX radio in Santiago, Chile

On July 19 at 7 PM, there will be a concert of Shatin's electroacoustic music at Jorge Müller Hall of ARCIS University in Santiago, Chile

On August 22 at 7 PM, her Marvelous Pursuits for vocal quartet and piano (4 hands) will be performed at the Staunton Music Festival, Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton, Virginia.

Judith Shatin will be posting to Music en Route - a sea, and occasionally land-going blog of her Semester-at-Sea - http://www.sequenza21.com/Shatin/.

For more information about composer Judith Shatin, including bio, performances, list of CDs and much more, visit http://www.judithshatin.com. You can also contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net.