World Champion Guitarist Coming To Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center May 5

Only one person has ever won the world's top competitions in both "fingerstyle" and "classical" guitar, the 1998 National Fingerpicking Champion and the Guitar Foundation of America International Classical Guitar Competition. That person, Michael Chapdelaine, will play a solo concert the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center at 3500 Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley, on Sunday, May 5, 2019.

Prior to winning the championship, Chapdelaine had also won top honors in four international "classical" guitar competitions, including First Prize in the Guitar Foundation of America Competition. He has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Fellowships and holds a Master of Music degree from Florida State University. In recent years he has toured 4 continents and been seen around the world on CNN and Headline News.

Chapdelaine, who studied with Andrés Segovia, earned the distinction of winning the 20th annual National Fingerpicking Championship, traditionally dominated by steel string players, while playing on a nylon string classical guitar. He bested an international field of guitarists by playing a broad spectrum of musical genres ranging from traditional South American dance music to his own fingerstyle compositions, which included a blues number he calls Blue Chile. "The biggest thrill about winning that championship was seeing how much people like my original compositions," Chapdelaine said.

His original works, which he has only recently introduced to the public, bring together a broad variety of musical styles from classical to country to blues. "I grew up playing pop music in Navy clubs....I needed to find a way to mix the groove and fun of that music with the discipline and expressive beauty of classical music." "Music is fun," claims Chapdelaine, adding, "If it's not fun, why bother?"

Chapdelaine has performed at the Cultural Arts Center in the past and has always drawn rave reviews for his highly celebrated performance abilities. The 175-seat auditorium is a perfect fit for such an intimate concert where all in attendance can easily view the fingerwork that has made him so famous.

The concert begins at 7:30 pm with the box office opening one hour prior for ticket sales and pick up. Tickets are $29 for adults, $27 for seniors and students and $22 for children 12 and under and are available online at www.simi-arts.org, or by calling 805-583-7900.