RICH BERRETTA

Born and raised in the Bronx, I’ve had piano keys under my fingers almost every day since I was eleven. I studied classical piano and music theory under Dr. Salvatore Febbraio, earning a Licentiate in solo piano recital from Trinity College London at the age of eighteen. Practice, as the old cliché promises, led me to Carnegie Hall—twice.

From my youth, I’ve played piano in church nearly every weekend. At nineteen, my first directorship of music was at Our Lady of Grace parish in the northeast Bronx. There, through gospel music, twelve everyday choir members taught me the role of the church accompanist—not to perform, but to draw a prayerful response from the faithful. That lesson has shaped everything I’ve done since.

In addition to the piano, I channel my creativity through songwriting. My debut book Melody in Your Hearts: My Journey to Music Worthy of Liturgy includes both songbook and instruction manual for the average Catholic musician to implement at Mass. I include sheet music for the twenty-eight songs I reference in the book—all of which are either original compositions or arrangements of hymns in the public domain—tailored to both vocalist and piano accompanist. I pray that my work instructs and inspires Catholic musical liturgists to pursue the goodness, truth and beauty of sacred music.

Today I serve as pianist at Ave Maria Catholic Parish in Parker, Colorado where my wife, three children and I regularly attend Mass.