LAKE PLACID – The Lake Placid Center for the Arts will present jazz pianist Aaron Diehl in concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9.

Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door, and are available by calling the LPCA box office at 518-523-2512 or online at www.lakeplacidarts.org.

This engagement of Aaron Diehl is made possible through the Jazz Touring Network program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Diehl is one of the most sought after jazz virtuosos, consistently playing with what The New York Times describes as “melodic precision, harmonic erudition, and elegant restraint.” Diehl’s meticulously thought-out performances, collaborations, and compositions are a leading force in today’s generation of jazz contemporaries, spearheading a distinct union of traditional and fresh artistry.

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “the most promising discovery that [Wynton] Marsalis has made since Eric Reed,” Aaron Diehl is the 2011 Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz of the American Pianists Association. His distinctive interpretations of the music of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, and other masters pay homage to the tradition while establishing an original voice.

Diehl has performed with the Wynton Marsalis Septet, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Benny Golson, Hank Jones, Wycliffe Gordon, Victor Goines, Wessell Anderson, Loren Schoenberg, and has been featured on Marian McPartland’s NPR radio show “Piano Jazz.”

His international touring has included major European jazz festivals as well as performances in South America and Asia.

In addition to the “Mozart Jazz Trio” album, he has recently released “Live at Caramoor,” from his solo performance at the prestigious festival in the summer of 2008. His latest trio CD is entitled “Live at the Player.”

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Diehl is a 2007 graduate of the Juilliard School, where his teachers included Kenny Barron, Eric Reed, and Oxana Yablonskaya. His honors include Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal award in 2004, winning the 2003 Jazz Arts Group Hank Marr Jazz Competition, and Outstanding Soloist at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2002 Essentially Ellington Competition. Immediately following graduation from high school he toured with the Wynton Marsalis Septet. Mr. Diehl currently resides in Manhattan where he serves as pianist for St. Joseph of the Holy Family Church in Harlem.