Ayal Yariv works as a piano accompanist at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He is also the regular pianist at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Fairview United Methodist Church and the church services at Glen Meadows Retirement Community, and is a company musician at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, where he plays period woodwind instruments. Yariv has a degree in musicology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as a certificate in music therapy from David Yellin College of Education in Jerusalem.