Judith Peraino holds a B.A. in music from the University of Chicago (1987) and a Ph.D. in music from the University of California, Berkeley (1995). Her dissertation, written under the direction of Richard Crocker, concerned the thirteenth-century chansonnier Le manuscript du roi. While at UC-Berkeley, she studied issues of sexuality and music with Philip Brett and began to publish in this area in 1992.

Peraino's publications include articles on medieval secular songs and motets, the rock artists PJ Harvey and Blondie, and Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas. She is the author of the book Listening to the Sirens: Musical Technologies of Queer Identity from Homer to Hedwig (2006). Peraino is a faculty member of the Medieval Studies Program and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. She also plays congas, djembe, batá drums, and other percussion instruments with the Cornell World Drum and Dance Ensemble, and performs with the Cornell Steel Band and various ensembles in Ithaca.

Selected courses:
History of Rock Music (undergraduate)
Rock, Rap, and Ethics (undergraduate)
Music and Queer Identity (graduate/undergraduate)
Love, Sex, and Song in the Middle Ages (graduate/undergraduate)
Women and Music (graduate/undergraduate)
Music and Postmodern Critical Theories (graduate)
Medieval Music, Notation, and Culture (graduate)
Secular Music of Guillaume de Machaut (graduate)