 Zaidel-Rudolph also specialised in piano performance; her teachers included Goldie Zaidel, Philip Levy and Adolph Hallis in South Africa, and John Lill in London.Zaidel-Rudolph returned to South Africa and became the first woman in the country to obtain a Doctorate in Composition, in 1979 at the University of Pretoria under Stefans Grové.In 1988, the first complete commercial recording of the works of a South African art music composer featured her music on an EMI album.