CHRISTIAN GONZALES
Christian Gonzales is one of San Diego's finest young violinists. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, he is in frequent demand as an independent performing artist and teacher. He regularly appears as a soloist, recitalist, and collaborative musician, having performed throughout the US and internationally in prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall. He is also the founder of the Christian Gonzales Violin Studio LLC, the San Diego Young Concert Musicians, and the East County Summer Strings.
Gonzales has appeared as a soloist with the Cabrillo Chamber Orchestra, UCLA Symphony, Cuyamaca Chamber Orchestra, and several other orchestras. As a recitalist, he has performed for La Jolla Music Society, Da Camera Society, Art of Elan, and others. Festival appearances include Tanglewood, Juilliard ChamberFest, Festival del Lago (Mexico), Domaine Forget (Canada), and Music Festival Tenerife (Spain). As an orchestral musician, he has performed with the New World Symphony, Opera Neo, New York Philharmonic (side-by-side), and was concertmaster of orchestras at Tanglewood and UCLA and associate concertmaster at Juilliard. Gonzales is also a pioneer of new music. He has performed his own compositions in public, including cadenzas to the Beethoven, Paganini, and Mozart concerti. He is also a frequent collaborator with composers, having premiered and recorded several works in addition to recitals for the NWEAMO festival and ComuArte.
Gonzales is also developing a reputation as a teacher with a unique style necessary for studying music in the 21st century. He has given masterclasses throughout Southern California, is developing a significant catalog of tutorial videos on violin technique and repertoire, and is authoring a five-volume book series titled "Violin Technique." His students have already included professional freelance musicians, teachers, conservatory students, and have held concertmaster chairs in orchestras. Gonzales studied pedagogy at the Juilliard School and has attended the Starling-Delay Symposium.
A native of El Cajon, Gonzales started practicing violin at the age of ten. He pursued his master's at Juilliard under Areta Zhulla where he was the recipient of the Dorothy Delay Scholarship, and pursued his bachelor's at UCLA under Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian where he was a Presser Scholar and was loaned the 1732 'Duke of Alcantara' Stradivarius. He previously studied with Alexander Palamidis, Travis Maril, and Shirley Stafford. Gonzales is the winner of numerous awards, including grand prize winner of the Atwater Kent Concerto Competition and the Bel Canto Young Artist Competition, finalist of the 10th Agustín Aponte International Music Competition, and prizewinner of the Musical Merit, La Jolla Young Artists, and Grossmont MSC competitions among others.
Outside of music, Gonzales is a retired wushu taolu practitioner. He was a two-time member of the USAWKF National Traditional Wushu Team and competed in the 6th World Traditional Wushu Championships (China). He was also a co-president and coach of the nationally-renowned UCLA Wushu.
