Being billed as one of the best guitarists working today, gave Tommy Emmanuel something to aim for - and he was equal to the task.

In a 40-year career, he has played every venue from the corners of Outback pubs in his home town of Alice Springs, Australia, to the world stage of the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics. The Sallis Benney Theatre, then, was no problem.

Those performances have turned Emmanuel into a great performer as well as an outstanding player. Along with his astonishing technique, he added visual touches and humour to keep the audience on its toes.

He is a musician who plays every part of the instrument. "This is an Australian guitar," he said, "you could play cricket with it."

He did everything but as he beat out a rhythm on the guitar body, slapped and even plucked the strings between the nut and the tuning pegs.

This was particularly spectacular on such compositions as Mombassa (his favourite) and Initiation - written to help bring Western music to the Aborigines.

Ever the showman, he mixed his own material with a medley of Beatles' songs - including a complex Michelle - and classics such as Claude Debussy's Golliwog Cakewalk and Scott Joplin's The Entertainer.

In his self-effacing way, Emmanuel also spoke about his playing technique, which is derived - via his mentor Chet Atkins - from Ike Everly (father of Phil and Don), Mose Rager and, later, Merle Travis.

The three musicians were from mining communities in Kentucky where folk musicians had developed a three-fingered style of playing so they could arrange tunes written for piano on a guitar.

"You see, you can't take a piano down a mine," Emmanuel said. "What do you get if you drop a piano down a mineshaft? A flat miner."

A poignant moment was a version of Smokey Mountain Lullaby, the last song he wrote and performed with Atkins, before rounding off a delightful performance with a rousing verson of Waltzing Matilda.