Anatoly Zatin received his academic training at the Rimsky-Kórsakov Conservatory in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), earning a Doctorate in Composition (1983) and Master’s Degrees in Piano and Orchestral Conducting. He inherits the European musical traditions through his mentors Sergei Slonimsky (composition), Ravil Martynov, Ilya Musin, Evgeny Mravinsky (conducting), Yuri Ananyev, Pavel Serebriakov, and Abraham Logovinsky (piano). In 1979, at the age of 24, he was admitted to the Union of Composers of the U.S.S.R., becoming the youngest member in the history of the organization. At 28, he made his debut as an orchestral conductor with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.

With a long and distinguished career in the artistic and musical fields, he has been honored with prestigious awards such as the UNICEF Medal of Honor (1990) and the Mozart Medal (2015). He has participated in major international music festivals around the world, including the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Hungary, Primavera Musical de Leningrado, the International Art Festival in Korea, the Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon, the UNESCO International Festival in Leningrad, the International Mozart Festival in Shanghai, among others.