(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – Rock On Young Musicians Workshop celebrates its 10th anniversary with Play it Forward, a concert at the Colonial Theatre on Friday, October 19, 2012, to benefit the Rock On Scholarship fund. Headlining the show are guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Sib Hashian, former members of the band Boston. Goudreau and Hasian rocked arenas around the world and played on the band’s first two albums, Boston and Don’t Look Back. Goudreau has been a guest artist at Rock On for the past two summers. The two will be joined onstage by Rock On faculty Jay Fruet, Ben Kohn and Livio Singer with “Fat City” bassist Kevin Humphris.

Play it Forward will also feature the jaw-dropping virtuosity of Chapman Stick master Steve Adelson and drummer Frank Bellucci. Adelson is regarded as one of the world’s premier Chapman Stick players. Utilizing and expanding the two handed tapping techniques discovered by Emmett Chapman, Adelson simultaneously plays bass lines, chords, melodies and rhythms on this revolutionary twelve string instrument. Adelson has played or recorded with Les Paul, Stanley Jordan, Larry Coryell, Dean Brown, Tony Levin, Danny Gottlieb, Pat Martino, Jerry Marotta, Chieli Minucci and countless others.

A special tribute to the memory of journalist and violinist Daniel Pearl will be made by 18-year old violinist Sarah Hubbard, winner of the 2012 Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin Award. Hubbard will be accompanied by Rock On faculty members Jeff Link, Charlie Tokarz, Ben Kohn and Chris Mattoon.

The evening will also include performances by three Pittsfield natives who are forging distinctive paths in the music scene today: Tony Lee Thomas, one of the Berkshire’s most beloved singer-songwriters, will open the show with his own innovative blend of funk, rock, blues, and folk. A consummate musician and published poet, Thomas has performed with Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Ellis Paul, Dar Williams, Bobby Sweet, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Tom Constanten of the Grateful Dead, and others.

Pittsfield native Michael Fabrizio, a musical maverick and award-winning songwriter, now based in Nashville, knows the rules but breaks them to deliver a passionate blend of country and rock. Fabrizio has co-written songs with Grammy winner Tommy Sims, CMA winner and Grammy nominated Billy Kirsch, and hit makers Del Gray and Zak Turner.

Art Decade, fronted by guitarist and singer Ben Talmi, will perform with the Art Decade String Quartet. Based at the Berklee College of Music, and described in the Boston Phoenix as “the next big break-out band from Boston,” Art Decade brings to the stage a sophisticated blend of classically influenced, hard driving rock. Talmi is signed with Vector Management and has arranged strings for Manchester Orchestra, Wild Nothing, Young Man, and the David Letterman Show.

Based at Berkshire Community College since 2002, Rock On has emerged as one of the most effective youth mentoring programs in the region and has become an integral part of Pittsfield’s cultural renaissance.