CHRISTIAN GONZALES
Biography
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, Gonzales has performed throughout the United States in venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Walt Disney Concert Hall, and internationally in Canada and Spain. He is also the owner of the Christian Gonzales Violin Studio which aims to provide high quality violin instruction in San Diego.
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Named the winner of the 2022 Atwater Kent Concerto Competition, Gonzales was briefly loaned the 1732 Duke of Alcantara Stradivarius. He was also a finalist in the 2025 Agustín Aponte International Music Competition. Gonzales is a prizewinner in the Charleston International, Max Bruch International, Birmingham International, New York Classical, Musical Merit, La Jolla Young Artists, La Jolla Emerging Artists, and the Grossmont MSC competitions. He has been awarded several scholarships from organizations including the Musical Merit and the Presser Scholar foundations.
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Gonzales has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras including the Cabrillo Chamber Orchestra, Cuyamaca Chamber Orchestra, and the UCLA Symphony. As a recitalist, he has played for venues such as the Da Camera Society, La Jolla Music Society, Tanglewood Music Festival, Juilliard ChamberFest, Domaine Forget International Festival (Canada), and Musical Festival Tenerife (Spain). Gonzales has collaborated with renowned artists including Anssi Kartunen, Marie Bitlloch, and with members of the San Diego Symphony, Dolphins Quartet, and Mariachi los Camperos. A supporter of new music, Gonzales has presented and premiered works on numerous occasions working closely with composers Kian Ravaei, Robby Good, Dai Wei, and the Comuarte collective. Gonzales has also performed his original compositions and arrangements in recitals such as cadenzas for the Beethoven and Mozart 5 violin concerti.​ As an orchestral musician, Gonzales has played with numerous groups including the New World Symphony and in side-by-sides with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the San Diego Symphony. He was a concertmaster of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and the UCLA Philharmonia, and associate concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra.
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Gonzales is also developing a reputation as a rising violin teacher in San Diego. He has given masterclasses across Southern California and is developing his Scale System and Exercises books for violin study. Gonzales studied pedagogy at the Juilliard School and has attended the Starling-Delay Symposium.
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A native of El Cajon, California, Gonzales started the violin in fifth grade. His teachers were Areta Zhulla, Movses Pogossian, Varty Manouelian, Alexander Palamidis, Travis Maril, and Shirley Stafford.​ Outside of music, Gonzales is a retired competitive wushu practitioner. He was a member of the USA Traditional Wushu Team and an assistant coach and co-president of UCLA Wushu.
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