The Hillman Performing Arts Series at Shady Side Academy in Fox Chapel will continue its 2019-2020 season with a performance of easy-listening music by jazz pianist, vocalist and composer Ariel Pocock.
The Durham, N.C.-based musician and song stylist will offer an intimate evening of acoustic piano and guitar showcasing her original compositions and songs that are inspired by the Great American Songbook, Brazilian and Cuban folk music, modern jazz composers such as Chick Corea and Brad Mehldau, and songwriters including Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and Paul Simon.
Her performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 in the Peter J. Kountz Theater of the Hillman Center for Performing Arts, located on the Shady Side Academy Senior School campus, 423 Fox Chapel Road, Fox Chapel.
Special duo concert
“I’m really looking forward to this show in Pittsburgh on Nov. 16,” Pocock said. “This will be a special duo concert with a dear friend and amazing musician, Grammy-nominated guitarist Keith Ganz. We’ll be doing mostly originals with a few interesting things thrown in — some Tom Waits, Sam Rivers, Willie Nelson and other goodies.”
Pocock, 25, is a 2015 graduate of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. She has performed as a headline act at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival, Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Tokyo Jazz Festival and Quebec City International Jazz Festival.
In addition to performing, she is an adjunct jazz piano professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She also has worked as a Stanford Jazz Workshop Mentor Fellow, and as an instructor at the Northeast Jazz and Recording Camp at Salem State University.
Her second album, “Living in Twilight,” was released in 2017 on Justin Time Records.
A pre-show coffeehouse and treats are included in the ticket price.
