The area’s biggest musical stars return to Williamsport as UPMC presents Live United in Music III on Thursday, Sept. 7, at the Community Arts Center, according to a press release.

This signature event is part of Live United Month, which is aimed at showcasing the Lycoming County United Way and the community as a whole.

This is the third live community event in the series, with the first two featuring Grammy and Tony Award nominee Michael Cavanaugh and the Live United in Music Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Walt Straiton, who will also produce the third installment.

The once-in-a-lifetime lineup will include recording artists Morgan Myles, Dylan Rockoff and Beane.

Along the way, there will also be special guest appearances by Dave Brumbaugh, Loni Gamble, Mike Caschera and Miss Pennsylvania Miranda Moore, as well as a few surprises.

Gary Chrisman will emcee the night’s festivities.

Williamsport-born Morgan Myles is no stranger to the Community Arts Center, having perfprmed there in April after finishing third place on NBC’s The Voice. She is a multi-instrumentalist who has opened for country stars as big as Luke Bryan, Jake Owen and Kane Brown.

“It took me 17 years to get to the Opry,” she said about the experience where she received a standing ovation, “and I’m not ashamed of the fact that it was hard. Because the truth is, when you see somebody that’s done the work, there’s a whole new level of authenticity and respect there. And that’s a huge part of how I connect with an audience.”

Morgan continued, “For me, music is therapy, and I know that when I’m at my best, that’s what I’m doing for audiences, too, I’m sharing and connecting and we’re all healing together.”

Native born Dylan Rockoff first found success with the release of his debut single “Feeling Fine,” which was featured on NBC’s The Today Show and Train’s SiriusXM special, Train Tracks.

After a No. 8 showing for his EP “These Old Streets” in 2016 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter Chart, Rockoff opened for Bon Jovi at Madison Square Garden and played sold-out headline dates across the nation.

But it was when Rockoff released the album “Semicolon & Parentheses” in January 2020 that he surprisingly found himself between Selena Gomez and Harry Styles at No. 2 on the iTunes Pop Chart, with the album going on to peak at No. 29 on Billboard’s New Artist Albums Chart.

In 2021 Rockoff decided to take a run at Hot AC Radio with his song “Magic,” which ultimately peaked at No. 46 on the chart.

Most recently, Rockoff played a sold-out set of dates across the U.S. with Maisie Peters and Jonah Kagen.

Montoursville Area High School and Berklee College of Music graduate Brennan “Beane” Hepler appeared on season 19 of American Idol in 2021 and finished in the show’s top 12. His duet of “Angel” by Robbie Williams with Josh Groban was especially well-received. When Groban asked if there was something he thinks about when he ponders the “angels” in his life, Brennan answered that he was fortunate to have many loved ones who lift him up and mentioned family, friends and his boyfriend.

Beane is a self-described R&B singer/songwriter who’s first solo project, 2017’s “Human Beane,” details his progression through moving away from the comfort of a small-town upbringing, and opening up about sexuality, desire and mental health.

Miss Pennsylvania 2023, Miranda Moore, a Harrisburg native, is a sustainability professional, a graduate from the University of Georgia with a bachelor of science in environmental engineering, and an accomplished clarinet player.

While at the University of Georgia, Miranda was a member of the Red Coat Band. She is a fierce advocate about raising awareness of how our choices impact the environment. Her goal is to provide people with the resources to make a difference and is traveling across the state to accomplish that goal.

She is also an advocate for Take Action in Fashion, with an eye towards changing how we buy, wear, and think about fashion through awareness, representation, and engagement.

Miranda will bring her advocacy to a national stage when she represents Pennsylvania at the Miss America Competition in January.

Dave Brumbaugh is the Executive Director of the Uptown Music Collective, and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, and has studied music and the guitar for over 40 years.

Dave is also an accomplished musician, with a love for teaching intermediate and advanced guitar.

He is responsible for a great deal of the curriculum the school follows, and teaches several of the higher level classes and workshops.

Dave’s goal is to help his students become musicians, not just proficient on a certain instrument.

Kopper and Kash is an up-and-coming country trio, made up of sisters Mia and Ava Pennycoff, along with their father, Navy veteran Jeff Pennycoff. They share their love of country music with the mission to share positivity and inspiration.

Some of their prior releases such as “The Best I Can” showcase the group’s nod to country music storytelling in a way that connects with their fans and followers.

The group recently won Best Youth Band of 2022 at the Central Pennsylvania Music Awards and also was nominated for a CPMA for Best Song of The Year in 2020 with their song “The Jacket.”

Jeff Pennycoff has been sharing his love of country music with his daughters from the moment they were born — he sang to them and introduced the girls to the guitar, instilling in them his love for traditional country music at an early age. He taught the girls songs from country music legends like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, George Strait and Alan Jackson, while they would sing along.

Like any family, life has a way of throwing curve balls. Matthew, the girls’ brother and Jeff Pennycoff’s son, passed away in a traffic accident.

Ava and Mia Pennycoff were inspired to follow in their father’s footsteps and started songwriting to express their grief. Despite the tragic events, the family has come together to spread faith, hope and, above all, love.

As music is very much a part of their healing journey, the band says, “we are hoping to encourage people that love and family is still genuine in this world. Even in hard times, you can find support.”

Kopper and Kash released a new single in May, “Dance, Sing, Live and Love.” The single encourages listeners to embrace life to the fullest and find joy in every moment.

Loni Gamble has had a very diverse musical career. Heavily influenced by his older brother while growing up in Philadelphia, his musical roots lie in R&B, formally beginning his musical career as a guitarist for the Grammy-nominated Stylistics.

As a solo artist, his hit single “Could It Be Love” made the Top 40 dance lists in seven countries across Europe, and in Canada.

After taking a 17-year break from making music, Gamble returned to his songwriting roots in 2019, authoring “It’s All About the 3-Steps Baby,” a dynamic group dance creation that was well-received in the U.S. and throughout the world.

Today, Gamble is leading the Community Alliance for Progressive Positive Action (CAPPA), a nonprofit, award-winning organization that has served the Williamsport area since 2004 with innovative youth programs.

As the founder and director of CAPPA’s Young Gentlemen Performing Arts and Life Skills Project, he supervises a program that provides meaningful and hands-on experiences and opportunities to young males through music and the performing arts. The program is specifically designed to motivate and inspire at-risk youth who are not emotionally connected to traditional educational environments.

Mike Caschera is a lifelong resident of Lycoming County, having left his mark throughout the country as a singer, saxophonist and multi-percussionist.

A 1970 South Williamsport graduate, he got his start at the age of 13, performing with his older brother and long-time local band leader, Tony Caschera, playing with both the “Bel Airs” and “TC and the VIPs.”

He is perhaps best known for his touring days with Spiral Staircase and their hit song “I Loved You More Today Than Yesterday.”

Caschera frequently appeared with Prince Charles and the Royal Tones and was the driving creative force in creating the band Magique, a mainstay in the Williamsport club scene in the late ’70s and early ’80s. He and his wife, Karen, also opened and ran the Studio of the Performing Arts in South Williamsport from 1989 to 2021.

Caschera currently appears in the appropriately-named band The Family Ties, performing alongside his two sons, Mike Caschera III and Gino Caschera. Together with Joe Marchese, they perform primarily original music along with time-honored contemporary classics in the greater NorthCentral Pa. region.

Live United in Music Executive Producer Walt Straiton has enjoyed a blended career, combining education, business, entertainment and professional performance. He serves as director of Academic and Institutional Partnerships with MusicFirst, a New York/London-based developer of integrated cloud-based instructional software solutions supporting music education.

Straiton first came to Williamsport in 1977 and enjoyed a 26-year tenure serving as director of orchestras at Williamsport Area High School, which included the creation of the renowned Millionaire Strolling Strings, while also serving on the orchestral conducting staff of both Messiah University and Penn State.

During his tenure in WASD, Straiton was one of four teachers in the nation to receive a coveted John F. Kennedy Center Fellowship for Teachers in the Arts. He also appeared as a finalist for “Teacher of the Year” in the nationally televised Walt Disney Corporation’s “American Teacher Awards,” as well as being recognized by both the Lycoming Brotherhood U.S.A. and the Williamsport/Lycoming Foundation (now First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania) for his outstanding contributions to education in our region.

In addition to having led the Live United in Music “Pops” Orchestra for the first two LUM events, recent professional conducting appearances include performances with the Hawaii Symphony, Portland (Maine) Symphony and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras.

He has also appeared with the New World Symphony Orchestra, The United States Air Force Symphony Orchestra, the Music at Penn’s Woods Festival Orchestra and the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra.

Honored for the opportunity to regularly collaborate with Michael Cavanaugh, Straiton has previously conducted concerts featuring a wide variety of contemporary pop/jazz artists, including Burt Bacharach, The Captain and Tennille, The Spinners, Patti Austin, Neil Sedaka, Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, and Bobby Rydell.

Robert Byham is a product of the South Williamsport School District, graduating in 1974. He later attended Mansfield University, where he majored in music performance. After four semesters, he left Mansfield to tour with The Spiral Staircase.

In 1981, he enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied theory and arranging. He also met his wife, Cathy, a vocalist, while living in Boston, and they were married in 1985. Their three children have all studied music at the Pennsylvania State University School of Music.

In addition to serving as special music arranger for Live United in Music, Byham has arranged for the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra and is currently arranging music for the Susquehanna Valley Chorale pops concert, something he has done since the late ’80s. In addition to the WSO and the SVC, he has arranged music for Davy Jones of the Monkeys, the Empire Brass Quintet, and the Uptown Music Collective.

Tickets are available at CACLive.com/events/live-united-in-music-iii or CACLive.com/LiveUnitedinMusic, or the box office at 570-326-2424. Seating is limited. All proceeds will benefit the Lycoming County United Way.