April 5, 2006

Pianist, Actor to Perform The Naked Gershwin April 30
to Benefit Rebecca Elizabeth Lytle Scholarship at UCSD

By Jan Jennings

Pianist Cecil Lytle and actor Arthur Wagner will perform The Naked Gershwin at 3 p.m. April 30 in the Faculty Club at the University of California, San Diego.

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 11th annual concert to benefit the fund. Tickets are $40.

“The concert includes the music and words of the Gershwins, George and Ira,” says Lytle of the program that has been described as both hilarious and educational. “We [seek] to ‘reveal’ a side of their professional and personal lives through their music and letters to, from, or about the Gershwins.”

Lytle will play the music, while Wagner reads the words. Lytle is a professor of music, associate director of CREATE (Center for Research in Educational Equity, Assessment, and Teaching Excellence), former provost of Thurgood Marshall College and one of the founders of the Preuss School. Wagner is a professor emeritus and the founding chair of the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance.

At last year’s concert Lytle and Argentine performer Jorge “Coco” Trivisonno performed tangos. Previous Lytle scholarship concerts include Hymns in 2004; 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 established 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. Beginning in 2004, the REL scholarships have been awarded and currently are being awarded to graduates of UCSD’s Preuss School whose college destination is Thurgood Marshall College.

Tickets for the concert are partially tax-deductible and may be obtained at the UCSD Faculty Club by calling (858) 534-0263 or by e-mailing Ginny Vollet. Hors d’oeuvres will be served during the intermission. For further information visit the website at www.rels.ucsd.edu.

Media Contact: Jan Jennings (858) 822-1684