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PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
Cecil Lytle has been Professor of Music at the University of California San Diego since 1974. Before that, he was a music professor at Grinnell College in Iowa. Since arrival at UCSD, he has recorded and performed widely around the world in works of the most daring avant garde classical composers and in jazz venues. His seven CD set of the Complete Piano Music of George Ivanovich Gurdjieff won special recognition in the West German Stereo Review Magazine. His lecture-performance television series, The Nature of Genius, was nominated for an Emmy. In 1997, Klavier Records released his most recent recording of late Beethoven piano sonatas. Versatility is his name! A facile intellect, Professor Lytle has won six National Endowment for the Arts Awards, three commissions form the California Commission on the Arts, has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor and Artists-in-Residence at the Darmstadt Music Festival and the Beijing Conservatory of Music, and was appointed Senior Fulbright-Hays Scholar to the United Kingdom. His interests in education led him to accept appointment as Provost of UCSD's Thurgood Marshall College in 1988--a post he held until 2005 in addition to Professor of Music. In addition to continuing professional appearances and recordings throughout the world, teaching, and administrative duties, Professor Lytle has successfully led the initiative to establish a model charter school on campus to attract and educate well motivated low income youngsters from the surrounding community. A keen observer of public policy and social responsibility, Lytle is motivated in this quest by his own personal experiences growing up as the last of ten children on the mean streets of Harlem. The aim of the national demonstration project is partially in response to the UC Regents' elimination of affirmative action in UC admissions practices. His belief is that all youngsters can perform at a very high academic level in a high-expectations, rigorous, and supportive educational environment. The Preuss School School (http://preuss.ucsd.edu) enjoys widespread community, statewide, and national support including the bipartisan enthusiasm of President Clinton and national Democrats as well as congressional Republicans. Along with the new San Diego City Schools Superintendent, Alan Bersin, Cecil Lytle is a key figure helping to reform both public education (K-12) and higher education in California. Back to Home | Professional History | Awards and Achievements | Selected Music Samples | List of Recording |