Dustin and Dylan Dinh are Saint Joe’s best kept secret.
Majoring in Computer Science is hard enough as it is, but try majoring in both Computer Science and Music. That is exactly what twin brothers Dustin and Dylan do.
Dustin and Dylan Dinh are Vietnamese and Chinese brothers from South Philadelphia. Both majoring in Music and Computer Science at Saint Joseph’s University.
Both Dustin and Dylan attended the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School from kindergarten to eighth grade. In this school, every student in fifth grade and below had to take weekly classes in various creative arts: ballet, choir, string orchestra, art, creative writing, French, and science.
In sixth grade, the Dinh brothers had to choose which one of these they wanted to “major” in. They both chose orchestra because that’s what they liked the most out of all of them.
The options were to play the violin, viola, cello, or bass. They both chose the violin because it was the one they were most familiar with and liked the best.
Dylan went on to explain that “Playing in a string orchestra made us enjoy all kinds of music, mostly classical, and it was a very challenging but fun and rewarding experience.”
The Dinh brothers are both in Chamber Ensemble with Dr. Morgan, their music instructor. Right now, the two are practicing Concerto for two violins in A Minor by Vivaldi. They have played pieces by Shostakovich, Bach, Bartok, and Telemann for Chamber Ensemble before.
Sometimes the Dinh brothers perform at an event called Music @ 11, which refers to a small concert held in the Chapel where some students perform various pieces at 11 a.m.
Dustin and Dylan have also performed in the Pit Orchestra for the musical, Carousel, which was organized by the SJU Theatre Company.
“The music department in St. Joe’s is small, but all of the people in the department are very kind. The classes are also very interesting and have greatly expanded my knowledge of all kinds of music.” Dylan said.
Something that a lot of people might not know about the music department is that it holds a lot of events. There are many recitals and concerts throughout the school year. Anyone can get involved with music lessons with one of the music instructors, even if they haven’t played an instrument before even if they are not a music major or minor.
