Thursday, March 26,   7:30 p.m.

Winner of the Independent Music Award, Rose d’Or of the Montreux Festival, and Best World Music Guitar Player by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine, Pierre Bensusan is recognized as one of the premier musicians of our time.

Born in Oran, French-Algeria in 1957, Bensusan’s family moved to Paris when he was 4 years old. 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, Bensusan began first to explore his own diverse musical heritage and then moved to the horizons beyond.

Bensusan has the ability to make a single guitar sound like an entire band as he brings the audience on a mesmerizing musical journey. And yet, he is more than what any musician or music lover expects from a guitarist. He is a composer as well as a bilingual and brave improvisational vocalist, melding whistles and resonant low notes with something like his own scat technique.

Frank Vignola’s stunning virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Wynton Marsalis, Tommy Emmanuel, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul.

With over 1000 engagements in the last five years alone, Vignola has become one of the most popular and sought after guitarists on the international music scene. His genre-spanning music has brought him to 14 countries on three continents performing in some of the world’s most illustrious venues including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center, and Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy.

Vignola’s jaw-dropping technique explains why The New York Times deemed him “one of the brightest stars of the guitar.”