Coolwater Ranch presents French-Algerian guitar virtuoso Pierre Bensusan | Sierra Star

On Saturday, March 21, beginning at 7 p.m., internationally-renowned French-Algerian acoustic guitarist, singer and composer Pierre Bensusan’s will grace the stage at Coolwater Ranch in Ahwahnee as part of his North American tour, continuing his 40th Anniversary World Concert Tour.

“With a rare elegance, Mr Bensusan measures every detail of tone, articulation and counterpoint,” wrote the New York Times

Often referred to as the “Mozart of Guitar”, Bensusan is also calling this tour the celebration of a dynamic 35-year association with his longtime guitar-maker Lowden Guitars.

The tour as well marks two more recent international accolades bestowed upon Bensusan in recent months:

In Oct. 2014, at the end of his concert at the Queen's Hall in Newtonards in the Ards International Guitar Festival (Northern Ireland), Bensusan was given the festival's "Lifetime Achievement Award". He is in good company with previous winners including Martin Taylor, Martin Simpson, John Renbourn and Davey Graham.

In June, 2014 Bensusan’s 3-CD set titled ‘ENCORE’, an ambitious and expansive retrospective collection celebrating his 40 years as a globetrotting concert performer won in the “LIVE PERFORMANCE ALBUM” category at the 2014 INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS (The IMAs). His CD set was nominated early in the year and through votes from the listening public was ALSO awarded the prize of “Vox Pop Winner (the fan-determined portion of The IMAs),”receiving more votes than any other artist in any other category.