Ruby Ngo '22 (left) and Professor of Music Jennifer Blyth.
Learn the story behind an unlikely May 9 performance
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
This is the story of a professor, a student and a tradition that wasn't likely to happen during a pandemic year. The professor is Jennifer Blyth, and the student is Ruby Ngo ’22, a pianist who majors in music and quantitative economics. The tradition is Dickinson’s spring Concerto Competition/Orchestra Concert, which includes a solo performance by the winner of the fall Concerto Competition—this year, that's Ngo.
Performances are degree requirements for music majors like Ngo, and during the past year, Dickinson’s music department has found creative ways to safely make solo and small-group performances happen. But could the Dickinson musicians pull off a much more complex, full-orchestra event during a pandemic? At the end of a challenging year—for ensemble musicians, music educators and students everywhere, and for this student-soloist in particular—Dickinson's music department was determined to find out.