Colorado Welcomes Back France's Guitar Master Pierre Bensusan

Learn more about the upcoming performances!

By: Mar. 30, 2022
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Colorado Welcomes Back France's Guitar Master Pierre Bensusan

French-Algerian acoustic guitar virtuoso, vocalist and composer Pierre Bensusan is excited to once again tour North America. In early 2020, Bensusan began his USA tour, but unfortunately a fledgling pandemic cut his North American tour short. Early in his 2022 tour, he is back and pleased to perform and teach again at last for Colorado fans and guitarists at the following locations:

~ ARVADA at The Olde Town Pickin' Parlor:

1) CONCERT Wednesday March 31st at 7pm

Ticket price: $30

2) GUITAR WORKSHOP(Masterclass for Intermediate/Advanced Guitarists)

Sunday, April 3rd, 10 am to 1 pm

Ticket price: $90. Info for either/both events:https://www.picknparlor.com/events

To reserve tickets, phone (the Store): (303) 421 2304

~ CONCERT in COLORADO SPRINGS at Stargazers Theatre

Thursday March 31st at 7pm

Ticket price: $20 advance; $25 at the door

Info / Order Tickets: https://stargazerstheatre.com/product/pierre-bensusan-mar-31/

Phone: 719-476-2200

~ CONCERT in DENVER at King Center Concert Hall CU (University of Colorado) Guitar Night
featuring award-winning MEIS guitar faculty Sean McGowan with Special Guest Pierre Bensusan A night of music celebrating the diversity & brilliance of the guitar.

Friday April 1 at 7:30pm

Event is open to the public; tickets $6-$16. Free for CU Denver students, faculty and staff.

Info / Order Tickets:

https://artsandmedia.ucdenver.edu/about-cam/newsroom-details/for-publication/internationally-acclaimed-french-algerian-guitarist-pierre-bensusan-headlines-cu-denver-s-guitar-night


Pierre will be playing 2 more evening concerts: on Apr 2 in the Gordon Gamm Theater at the Dairy Arts Center in BOULDER (CO), and, Apr 3 in LONGMONT at Jensen Guitar Company / The Willow River Music Emporium, Details at:ps://www.pierrebensusan.com/tour.asp

"After a two year hiatus, staying home, playing, writing and longing to share the music live with you once more, it will be a blast to finally go on tour again throughout the USA & Canada." Bensusan continues: "I'm overjoyed to at last perform my songs from the « Azwan » album, and share my brand new book « Guitar Collection » published by Hal Leonard"

The first leg of this 100 date concert tour which includes guitar clinics runs from March through May, from NC heading West through the southern states, all the way to the West Coast, then up-coast to BC. The second leg will resume in September through November, starting in WA, going East through the Northern states, the Dakotas, Manitoba, The Great Lakes, the Mid-West, Ontario, New York, Quebec, New England, East Coast, back to NC.

In December, 2021 at home in France, Bensusan did an indepth feature interview on the program "3 Hauts de France". From that show, watch the stunning live performance of "HEKIMOGLU", a traditional Turkish melody which he arranged.

A Ground-breaking Collaboration:
"I've been honoured and was very happy to be invited to play on Donny Osmond's 63rd and brand new album titled "Start Again". It was a bit as if a little angel came to visit in the midst of what seemed like an eternal hiatus due to the pandemic. The track in which Philippe Saisse on keys and myself play along with Donny is a soulful ballad called "Footprints". The guitar part was recorded in my studio by Christophe Goudot. All together it is an amazingly groovy, absolutely great pop R&B album and Donny's voice is as beautiful as it is powerful; full of feelings, rich and spectacular. I was also so pleased to learn that Donny has been a fan of my playing for many years. More projects together are coming..." Listen to "Footprints" .

It's as if the guitar has been given free reign to play itself! French-Algerian acoustic guitar virtuoso, vocalist and composer Pierre Bensusan, nicknamed "Mr. DADGAD", has taken his unique sound to all corners of the globe. Winner of the Independent Music Awards for his triple live album "Encore", voted Best World Music guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine reader's Poll, and winner of the Rose d'Or at the Montreux Festival for his debut album, Pierre is recognized as one of the greatest guitar players of the 21st century.

Born in Oran, French-Algeria, in 1957 when France was decolonizing its Empire, Pierre Bensusan's family moved to Paris when he was 4. He began formal studies on piano at the age of 7 and at 11 taught himself guitar. Influenced in those early days by the folk revival blooming in Britain, France and North America, Bensusan began first to explore his own diverse musical heritage and then moved to the horizons beyond. He signed his first recording contract at 17 and one year later his first album, "Près de Paris" won the Grand Prix du Disque upon his debut at the Montreux Festival in Switzerland.

Pierre's name has became synonymous with contemporary acoustic guitar genius, long before the term World Music was invented. He has literally created a style of playing with the ability to make a single guitar sound like an entire band as he brings the audience on a mesmerizing musical journey. And yet, Bensusan is more than what any musician or music lover expects from a guitarist. He is a composer as well as a bilingual and original and improvisational vocalist, with his own scat technique.

Immortalized by the tune 'Bensusan' written in tribute by the late Michael Hedges, and referenced as an important inspiration to many other great musicians, Pierre Bensusan is a one-of-a-kind artist whose music transcends genre and time, with an uninhibited sense of musical freedom and expression, a sense of something both playful and serious, otherworldly yet right here; right now. His "manner" of playing defies classification - crossing world, classical, jazz, traditional, folk, pop and more. None can be isolated as simply "World Music", "Celtic", "Arabic" or "French"; rather, they represent Pierre's genuine vocabulary and the best part of our world in its current state, a world sharing itself. Not to be missed!

During a three year hiatus from international touring, Pierre Bensusan had been writing exciting new material and perfecting his guitar-playing for his new instrumental CD "Azwan"- released in 2020. Since its release, "Azwan" continues to garner glowing reviews.

"I chose to work with a French producer, Jean-Marie Ecay, who happens to be one of the most in-demand electric guitarists on the French jazz scene (tours with Jean-Luc Ponty, Richard Galliano) so that I could take advantage of his ears, experience and suggestions to bring the music in a different direction." says Pierre.

As well, the scores from "Azwan" plus a selection of popular performances pieces, technical considerations and insights were published in a new book "The Pierre Bensusan Guitar Collection", released worldwide by Hal Leonard (*except by "Fingerstyle China": for China, Hong Kong & Taiwan).



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