Director of Chamber Music and Professor of Viola & Chamber Music Doris Lederer, Diploma, Curtis Institute of Music, recently reconnected with a former student’s family in a meaningful way, teaching an individual viola lesson to 11-year-old Alice Hoisington on Sunday, Nov. 30. Alice is the daughter of Shenandoah Conservatory alumna Zhuo Diao ’10, ’12 (Artist Diploma, Master of Music in Performance), who studied with Lederer after being recruited from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

Lederer first met Diao and her twin sister, Shuo, during a 2003 recruiting trip to Beijing and Shanghai with Professor Emeritus of Cello Clyde Thomas Shaw, M.M., and former Shenandoah Conservatory Dean Larry Kaptain. Impressed by their artistry, the sisters were offered scholarships on the spot. Zhuo and Shuo began their studies at Shenandoah later that year and have remained closely connected with their former mentors.

Lederer and Shaw also visited the Central Conservatory of Music in 1981/82 to coach students and perform as part of the Audubon String Quartet.

Alice’s lesson marks a new chapter in this long-standing relationship — one that now spans generations and reflects the conservatory’s enduring tradition of mentorship, global engagement and artistic excellence.