USC Thornton celebrates final Charles Dickens Dinner
By Evan Calbi
On Dec. 12, USC Thornton celebrated the 28th and final Charles Dickens Dinner at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. For its final installment, the Dickens Dinner honored Glenn Dicterow, former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and current USC Thornton faculty; music icon and famed songwriter John Fogerty; and acclaimed poet Dana Gioia, the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at USC.
For a slideshow of images from this year’s event, click here.
Robert Cutietta, Dean of USC Thornton, reflected on the lasting impact of the Dickens Dinner 28 years after its inception.
“I think the real legacy of the Dickens Dinner is that every time we have honored someone, it created a new scholarship for a student,” Dean Cutietta said. “After doing this, we have created over 50 scholarships that will help students in the future as part of the Thornton School.”
As a tribute to the honorees, USC Thornton will create new scholarships reflecting their names that will be awarded to students pursuing fields that each honoree represents. On Friday, Thornton student Annelle Gregory, an undergraduate in the Strings department, received the Glenn Dicterow Scholarship and performed a solo violin piece in his honor. Popular Music student Max Quilici received the John Fogerty Scholarship and played a medley of Fogerty’s songs. The famed songwriter even joined Quilici on stage. Tina Huynh, a Master’s student in Music Education, received the Dana Gioia Scholarship, and a video about her was shown.
“This event has always been about the students,” said Dean Cutietta. “It has always been about raising money for scholarships to ensure that the best students can come and get the quality education they deserve.”
