A professional violinist and teacher, Shih Lan Liu came from Taiwan as a teenager to study violin with renowned teachers at the USC Thornton School of Music. While there, she was a violin scholarship recipient, working with Eudice Shapiro and Alice Schoenfeld. Liu received a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the Thornton School. After graduating, she continued to study all the major works of violin repertoire with Alexander Treger, Noumi Fischer, Claire Hodgkins, and Eudice Shapiro.
Many of her students have been concertmasters and soloists with several local orchestras such as Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra (PYSO), Pasadena Young Musician’s Orchestra (PYMO), Olympia Youth Orchestra (OYO), and Arcadia Youth Orchestra (AYO). Her students have won many competitions, including ASTA, VOCE, Bach Festival, SYMF, and the Korean Times competition. Among them, her recent winners have included a solo performance of the Sibelius Concerto with the Brentwood Symphony, as an Artist of Tomorrow recipient.
Liu has been on the string faculty of the Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. A private teacher in the Pasadena area for the past 30 years, Liu is an active MTAC and ASTA member, has been on the panel of judges for numerous competitions. She is also the chairperson for the American String Teachers Association Area 6.