Becky Billock

1974 –

Becky Billock, an accomplished pianist and successful private studio teacher who resides with her husband, Jonathan Aldrich, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a frequent recitalist and active chamber music musician. She also lectures and adjudicates frequently in the area.

A student of Leonard Richter, she graduated from Walla Walla College, now University, in College Place, Washington, in 1994 with a B.Mus. in piano performance. While there she worked with Debra Richter in the Piano Preparatory Program from 1993 to 1997, becoming assistant director in 1994. Her students won gold and silver medals at local competitions and festivals, and one was chosen to perform as a soloist with the Oregon East Symphony.

She has appeared as soloist with regional orchestras in Oregon and California and has performed solo and chamber recitals throughout the U.S. In autumn 2001, Billock was selected to perform on the Ladies Musical Club Awards Tour of Northern Washington with cellist Kevin Krentz and soprano Karen Urlie. Included in their performances were recitals at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle and on the LIVE! by George program on Classical KING FM radio.

She has more recently released a CD, Musesnine: Eight American Composers Plus One Pianist, which has been played frequently in the U.S. and Canada and been praised by several music publications. It was featured as CD of the Week on radio station WQED in Pittsburgh and KDFC in San Francisco.

Billock has received numerous awards and scholarships. While completing an M.Mus. at Redlands University, where she studied with Luanne Long, she was given the LeHigh Piano Scholarship, won the Performance Award, and served on the faculty of the Redlands Community Music School. She completed a DMA in piano at the University of Washington in 2003, studying with Senior Artist in Residence, Craig Sheppard.

For her research, she compiled a collection titled "Selected Intermediate Piano Pieces by Seven Women of the Twentieth Century." She presented her research at the Seventh International Festival of Women Composers in March 2004, and in November 2004 she appeared as a lecturer at the Pennsylvania State Convention of the Music Teachers National Association.

Billock, described by the BBC Magazine as a "persuasive and capable musician," has since given numerous performances of her program, Women Working, including presentations at the 2010 International Festival of Women Composers and the 2011 Congress of the International Alliance of Women in music.

In April 2009, Billock appeared on the Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania concert series with Adam Liu, assistant principal cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Included on their program was the world premiere of a commissioned piece by Changyuan Liu, a prominent Chinese composer. In May 2009, she presented a solo program of American Women Composers on a local Pittsburgh concert series.

ds/2012

Sources: Biography at Becky Billock Website, 2012; personal knowledge.