PHANTOM Cast Members to Perform at Wonderful World Awards, 9/19

Paul A. Schaefer, Kyle Barisich and Elizabeth Welch, members of the Broadway cast of "Phantom of the Opera," will be the opening act at The Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine's 2011 What A Wonderful World Award to be held at Beth Israel Medical Center on Monday, September 19, 2011. Honorees include music legend and actor Levon Helm, Dr. Marvin McMillen, and classical guitarist and Beth Israel patient and volunteer Andrew Schulman.

Dancer/choreographer Mercedes Ellington will be mistress of ceremony. The ceremony and cocktail reception will be held from 6 to 9 pm in the atrium of the Phillips Ambulatory Care Center, 10 Union Square East, between 14th and 15th Streets in Manhattan.

Barisich and Welch will sing "All I Ask of You" and Schaefer will perform "Music of the Night," two much-loved numbers from Broadway's longest running musical composed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyrics by Charles Hart. Phantom won the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical.

Also performing at the event is one of the jazz world's most respected artist - trumpeter Jon Faddis, recipient of the 2009 Wonderful World Award.

The Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine is celebrating its fifth anniversary. The Center traces its origins to the The Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program at Beth Israel, established 17 years ago as part of the jazz legend's legacy. The Center provides multidisciplinary health care services to amateur and professional performing artists.

For more information about What A Wonderful World Awards, the programs and services offered by The Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine, please call 212-420-2704 or check out its website at www.musicandmedicine.org.

Photo Credit: Monica Simoes