Born in Taichung, Hsiao-Lin Liao studied piano and violin from an early age, as well as music theory and composition. She attended the National Institute of the Arts in Taipei as a composition student before moving to Vienna, where she studied conducting and vocal coaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts, receiving both a master’s degree and a diploma with distinction in orchestral conducting. In October 2000 she conducted the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in a graduation concert at the Musikverein. Since 1998 she has worked in Germany, first as repetitor and conductor at Opernhaus Chemnitz, and most recently as first conductor at Mitteldeutches Landestheater in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. In September 2001 she won third prize at the Bad Homburg Conducting Competition. Her orchestral conducting engagements have included concerts with the Pro-Arte Orchestra (Vienna), the Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), the Orchestra Accademia Filarmonica della Scala, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan.