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Honoring a Legacy: CCA’s Longest-Serving Instructor Retires

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Smiling man in a blue blazer stands in front of an American flag and dark curtain. Text on the left reads, 'Honoring a Legacy: CCA’s Longest-Serving Instructor Retires,' with the Community College of Aurora logo below.

Rich Italiano, CCA’s longest serving instructor, retired at the end of this spring semester. An adjunct member at CCA for nearly 36 years, he has taught piano, composition, music theory and music appreciation to nearly 1,300 students.

Italiano’s interest in music began as a young child of seven. His dad played the piano, his grandfather played the mandolin, and his mother sang in choirs continually from an early age. “I always knew that whatever I did in life, it would involve music,” said Italiano. “Because of my love of music, there is a natural desire in myself to share with others, whether through teaching or performing.”  

Italiano has been a piano teacher, composer and performer in the Denver area since 1985. He maintains a private piano studio in Denver for students of all ages. He received his Bachelor of Music in Piano from the University of Northern Colorado in 1982 where he graduated cum laude and with honors. He received his Master of Music in Piano from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University in 1986. Also, he was a student at the Aspen School of Music in summer of 1981.

He began teaching at CCA in 1989, became a resident instructor in 1994 and then music department coordinator from 1997 to 2013. In 2001, he was awarded the Brosh Faculty Endowment and in 2004-2005, he was named Faculty of the Year. Additionally, in 2023 he was a NISOD Excellence Award Recipient. In 2005, he composed music for the theater department’s production of Antigone and in 2009, he composed the film score for The Men Running Past for the Colorado Film School (Cinematic Arts). He has performed as piano soloist and chamber musician for faculty recitals and other events on campus through the years.

Although Italiano started at CCA in August 1989, his association with the college dates back to June of 1986 when he first met Tom Brosh, CCA’s music department chair at Kolacny Music on S. Broadway in Denver. “I was looking for a studio to teach piano and Tom owned the teaching studios at Kolacny,” Italiano explained. “Tom set me up with my first teaching studio at Kolacny, and then in 1989, he would later hire me at CCA to teach music theory, then piano, composition, music appreciation and then later in 1997, become music department coordinator. Along with other music faculty members, we built a vibrant music program at the CentreTech Campus that serves not only the student body of CCA, but also the city of Aurora.”

“In the early days,” said Italiano, “technology was much simpler. I remember preparing my first few syllabi on an electric typewriter and using Liquid Paper to correct mistakes. In Music Appreciation, we listened to music examples on vinyl or cassettes. There were fewer protocols to adhere to. Today, we use computers for everything, there are more guidelines to follow, procedures tend to be more systematized, and classes are run through platforms like D2L or Canvas. This has made life for a teacher much easier, but sometimes more frustrating. I’ll take this new technology any day from what we had in the past.”  

Some highlights of Italiano’s teaching career at CCA include when a student’s face lights up when music theory finally makes sense to them and when a student has accomplished their lifetime goal of learning to play the piano and can perform in a college recital. In addition, there was a particular time when his class was studying György Ligeti’s “Disorder” in Music Appreciation and a student wrote in his music journal that this music helped him to understand the true essence of art with all its complexities and where it fits in the history of music.  

“I really enjoyed composing the film score for students at CCA’s Cinematic Arts program in 2009. The short film was titled The Men Running Past and was a phenomenal experience,” added Italiano. “I also composed a song cycle titled Four Poems of Edgar Allan Poe in 1988, and I was fortunate to have it performed twice at CCA in faculty recitals.” 

After his retirement from CCA, Italiano plans to continue to teach private piano lessons in his home studio in Denver. “I am also looking forward to having more time to play the piano and compose.”

Italiano believes that CCA has an incredible welcoming culture where students can get a solid education. “From my own experience, the students feel that they have a place where they belong, where they can grow and eventually move on to a four-year program or find a career or job with a two-year degree,” explained Italiano. “I was always proud of the music courses I taught, because I got to guide students in fulfilling their dreams, as well as share my life experiences in the world of music. This is what teaching and building a community are all about.”