Julio Fernandez, Jennifer Lampert and More Set for VOICES OF VALOR at Russian Tea Room Tonight

Grammy-Award-winning musician Julio Fernandez, lead guitarist of Spyro Gyra, vocalist Jennifer Lampert, Miss USO 2001, and an extraordinary band including Benny Harrison and Lou Watson on keyboard and special guests, joined by veterans participating in the Voices of Valor program, will perform the world premieres of songs written by veterans tonight, May 13, 2013, from 6 to 10:30 p.m.

Master of Ceremonies will be Michael Gargiulo, co-anchor of WNBC's "Today in New York." Gargiulo has a special interest in military affairs and earned an Emmy Award for a series of stories from Kuwait and Iraq.

The event at New York's legendary Russian Tea Room, 150 West 57th Street, is a benefit for Music For All Seasons' (MFAS) Voices of Valor program, launched in 2011 with a major grant from the RoBert Wood Johnson Foundation. Voices of Valor is making major strides in assisting veterans with their return to civilian life, with a unique program that taps into the profound healing power of music.

The evening's honorees will be Johnson & Johnson and the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, both of which have been major supporters of MFAS for two decades. Proceeds from the benefit event will be dedicated to expanding the Voices of Valor program, currently in New York and New Jersey, to the remaining three states served by MFAS-Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and California-as well as reaching additional veteran centers in New York and New Jersey.

The evening will include a pre-dinner cocktail reception, with music by Lou Watson, a multi-course dinner, silent auction, and The Songs of Voices of Valor. Tickets are available by calling toll-free 1.866.524.MFAS (6327) or via online purchase at www.musicforallseasons.org

Music For All Seasons, now celebrating its 22nd season, was founded in New Jersey by Rena Fruchter and Brian Dallow, and is now active in five states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and California. By bringing live musical performances to a wide range of institutions including children's hospitals, retirement facilities, shelters for victims of domestic violence, juvenile detention centers, nursing homes, medical centers, halfway houses and hospices, MFAS aids the physical, mental, and spiritual healing processes.

MFAS gained national recognition in its first decade partly through the advocacy of the late actor-musician Dudley Moore, founding president of MFAS' Board of Advisors. The internationally-renowned cellist Steven Isserlis is the current president of the MFAS Board of Advisors. MFAS is supported by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and many corporations and foundations including Johnson & Johnson, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the RoBert Wood Johnson Foundation, and PNC Bank.

Voices of Valor was established by Music For All Seasons in 2011 to provide an opportunity for service men and women returning from active duty to use music to help them reintegrate into civilian life. The project brings together small groups of veterans for an eight-week program working with professional musician/songwriters and a psychology mentor. No previous musical experience is required and the program is free to veterans, who use their shared experiences to write lyrics to a group song, set it to music, and record it in a professional recording studio.