20th Annual Lytle Scholarship Concert Features Gilbert Castellanos Jan. 31

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Gilbert Castellanos

The University of California, San Diego is celebrating the 20th annual Lytle Scholarship Concert with renowned jazz trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos and the Mambo Messengers on Sunday, Jan. 31 at 3 p.m., at the Department of Music’s Conrad Prebys Concert Hall. For two decades, the annual concert has raised funds for the Lytle Scholarship Endowment, which benefits UC San Diego undergraduate students.

“Gilbert Castellanos is the hottest young jazz trumpeter in the United States today,” said Cecil Lytle, professor emeritus of Music at UC San Diego. “Castellanos has become a staple in jazz venues around the world. I am thrilled to have him join us for the Lytle Scholarship Concert so that our attendees can hear for themselves what the rest of the world is raving about.”

Castellanos comes to UC San Diego fresh from his “Living Legends of Jazz” series with the San Diego Symphony. According to the Los Angeles Times, “[Castellanos] plays with élan, evincing a more individual, ever-large sound offering hard swinging, often ear-grabbing solos…[proving] that music with deep roots in jazz’s glorious ’50s and ’60s can sound completely contemporary today.”

Proceeds from the event support scholarships for students attending Thurgood Marshall College at UC San Diego who also graduated from The Preuss School UCSD, a charter middle and high school on the UC San Diego campus for low-income students who strive to become the first in their families to graduate from college.

Maile Nilsson

Maile Nilsson is a fourth-year undergraduate with a double major in Human Biology and International Studies: Political Science. Thanks to the help of the Lytle Scholarship, Nilsson is approaching her goal of becoming the first in her family to graduate college. In addition to excelling academically, Nilsson is a member of the UC San Diego women’s soccer team. She also works part time in a lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and serves as social co-chair of UC San Diego’s Flying Samaritans, an organization that runs a free medical and dental clinic for underserved populations in Mexico. In addition, she hosts a weekly radio show on the student-run campus radio station.

“Thank you for helping to make my dreams come true,” Nilsson says. “Without the support of the scholarship, none of this would have been possible. I would not be able to achieve my goal of being the first in my family to graduate college without this support.”

The Lytle Scholarship Concert with Gilbert Castellanos and The Mambo Messengers is set for Sunday, Jan. 31 from 3 to 5 p.m. in UC San Diego’s Conrad Prebys Concert Hall.

General admission is $50. Tickets for current and former military are $40. Student tickets are $10; students from all schools are welcome. For tickets and further information, call (858) 534-1507 or click here.