Pianist Cecil Lytle Will Perform
Religioso/ Diabolique Jan. 28 to Benefit
the Rebecca Elizabeth Lytle Scholarship at UCSD

January 8, 2006

By Jan Jennings

Religioso/Diabolique: Religious Piano Music from the East will be presented by University of California, San Diego pianist Cecil Lytle at 3 p.m. Jan. 28 in the Ida and Cecil Green Faculty Club on the UCSD campus.

The concert is open to the public and will benefit the Rebecca Elizabeth Lytle Memorial Scholarship Fund at UCSD’s Thurgood Marshall College. This is Lytle’s 12 th annual concert to benefit the fund. Tickets are $40.

Each year Lytle selects a particular theme for the benefit concert. This year Lytle will highlight late 19 th century and early 20 th century classical music composed with religious mood in mind. “The music for the concert includes the late 19 th century Russian mystic, Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915); music composed during the last decade of the life of Franz Liszt (1811-1886), and music by Arvo Paert, an Estonian composer who specializes in highly religious choral music,” Lytle says.

“By religious, I mean this cuts two ways. Several of the shorter late pieces by Franz Liszt are quite simple, at times highly impressionistic, and take their titles from the Old Testament. Others demonstrate his fascination with the demonic side with his free employment of the ‘devils Tritone’ and the Deus Irae theme.”

Lytle is an award-winning artist who has been appearing in concert in the United States, Europe and Asia since 1968. An expert in the performance of 19 th and early 20 th century music, he has taught UCSD courses in classical music and black music history.

In addition to his teaching and concert career, Lytle is a recording artist, has performed on television and radio, and was nominated for an Emmy award for his performance/lecture series, The Nature of Genius, on public television.

At last year’s benefit concert, Lytle and UCSD Professor Emeritus Arthur Wagner performed The Naked Gershwin which explored the personal and professional lives of George and Ira Gershwin through their letters and their music. Previous Lytle concerts include Tango! in 2005 with Argentine performer Jorge “Coco” Trivisonno; Hymns in 2004; Classicism and Impressionism – Works for Cello and Piano performed by cellist Charles Curtis and pianist Aleck Karis in 2003; Franz Schubert: An All-Schubert Piano Recital in 2002; 2001 – A Ragtime Odyssey, featuring Lytle on piano with guests musicians on bass, banjo, drums and violin; an All-Liszt Piano Recital in 2000; 100 Years of Ellington featuring jazz and blues singer Barbara Morrison, Cecil Lytle and special music guests in 1999; an All-Chopin Piano Recital in 1998; Gershwin at 99 in 1997, and an All-Beethoven Piano Recital in 1996. Past recitals by Lytle are available for viewing on UCSD-TV.

The Rebecca Elizabeth Lytle Memorial Scholarship Fund was endowed in 1995 to support and encourage a select group of first year students enrolled in UCSD’s Thurgood Marshall College who are the first in their family to attend college. Since 2004, the REL scholarships have been awarded to graduates of UCSD’s Preuss School whose college destination is Thurgood Marshall College.

Tickets for the 12th annual Rebecca Lytle Memorial Scholarship Concert, at which hors d’oeuvres will be served during intermission, are $40 of which $27 is tax deductible. For tickets and further information call (858) 534-0263 or e-mail rels@ucsd.edu.

 

Media Contact: Jan Jennings, (858) 822-1684