BECKY BILLOCK, PIANO
Hailed as a "persuasive and capable" musician (BBC Music Magazine) and an "unforgettable listening experience" (The Whole Note), recording artist and recitalist Becky Billock has found her niche promoting the works of contemporary women. Ms. Billock enjoys an active performance schedule including international tours, commissions, and world premieres. She has appeared as soloist with regional orchestras in the US, Mexico, and South Africa. In addition to solo and chamber recitals throughout the U.S., she has had appearances on the Seattle radio station Classical KING FM 98.1, the Pittsburgh radio station WQED 98.3FM, and American Public Media's Performance Today. Ms. Billock concertizes, lectures and adjudicates frequently in western Pennsylvania where she lives with her husband Jonathan Aldrich and her two young daughters. She holds degrees from Walla Walla College (BA), University of Redlands (MA), and University of Washington (DMA), where she studied respectively with Leonard Richter, Louanne Long, and Craig Sheppard.
Ms. Billock served as the pianist for the Pittsburgh-based Trio Nova Mundi, the ensemble in residence at Grove City College from 2012 to 2017. Trio appearances include the Semanas Musicales de Frutillar, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Music on the Hill (Rhode Island), Friday Night Live! at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and tours to Africa, South America, Mexico, and many US cities. The trio's CD Canticum was released in November 2015.
Ms. Billock's 2011 CD release musesnine: eight american composers plus one pianist has received extensive airplay throughout the US and Canada, and garnered accolades from some of the top music publications. Musesnine was also featured as "CD of the week" both on Pittsburgh's WQED and KDFC San Francisco, and Ms. Billock was featured in a live performance broadcast promoting the CD on WQLN FM in Erie, PA.
Other career highlights include collaborating with soprano Gail Wettstein and others in a series of concerts in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, an appearance on the Steinway Piano Series in Pittsburgh, PA with pianist Tina Faigen, and concertizing around the US with her duo partner Jack Kurutz as Duo Junction. In April 2013 Duo Junction appeared as a finalist team in the Ellis Duo Piano Competition, in Jackson, MI.
Ms. Billock has also enjoyed collaboration with Pittsburgh Symphony cellist Adam Liu in the premiere of a work by Chinese composer Changyuan Liu, and has participated in showcasing the works of American composers Robert Schultz as well as Robert Storms. Ms. Billock has extensively promoted music by women, including a presentation both at the 2010 International Festival of Women Composers and at the 2011 Congress for the International Alliance of Women in Music. As a winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Majors Auditions, Ms. Billock performed on that organization's concert series, as well as at the 2011 Johnstown Chamber Music Festival.
In addition to her Grove City College faculty appointment where her students have won many honors and competitions, Ms. Billock maintains a thriving private studio in Pittsburgh. Her private students have been chosen for numerous awards and honors including Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival, the Duquesne Young Artist Piano Festival and the Steinway Society Young Artist program. Many of her students have appeared as soloists with the Pittsburgh Concertino Chamber Orchestra and the Grove City College Symphonic Orchestra.
​Recordings
​Concerts
Teaching Studio
Just for current students
Pittsburgh Concertino Chamber Orchestra
Beacon Theater