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, Christian has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician throughout the United States in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Copley Hall, and the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. He is also busy establishing the Christian Gonzales Violin Studio which aims to provide elite-level violin instruction in San Diego.

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Named the winner of the 2022 Atwater Kent Concerto Competition, Christian was briefly loaned the 1732 Duke of Alcantara Stradivarius. He has also achieved victories in the Musical Merit Foundation of Greater San Diego Competition, the La Jolla Young Artists Competition, the Grossmont Music Scholarship Council Competition, and awards from the UCLA Philharmonia All Stars Concerto Competition. He has also won the Fenstermaker Scholar Award, the Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award, the Friends of East County Arts Scholarship, and the Carson Kemp Memorial Scholarship. Christian has also won the fellowships to the Tanglewood and Aspen festivals.

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Christian has appeared as a soloist with the UCLA Symphony, International Youth Symphony, Cuyamaca Chamber Orchestra, and the East County Youth Symphony. He has performed as a recitalist for the Da Camera Society of Los Angeles, La Jolla Music Society, La Jolla Presbyterian Church Concert Series, Solana Salon Concert Series, Tanglewood Music Center, Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Juilliard ChamberFest, and the UCLA Chancellor's Residence Recital Series. Special appearances include the groundbreaking ceremony of the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, composer Samuel Adler's 95th birthday recital on short notice, and performances for the California State Senate and Rotary International. He has also performed in the public masterclasses of Ani Kavafian, Martin Chalifour, Madeleine Mitchell, and the Formosa Quartet among others. Christian has collaborated with composers Dai Wei, Kian Ravaei, and Robby Good, the ComuArte Internacional collective, and with members of the Dolphins Quartet and the Mariachi los Camperos. Christian has also performed his original arrangements and compositions in recitals such as cadenzas for the Beethoven and Mozart 5 violin concerti.

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As an orchestral musician, Christian has been the concertmaster of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and the UCLA Philharmonia, and associate concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra. He has also performed with Jacaranda Music and in side-by-sides with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the San Diego Symphony. He was also the concertmaster of the International Youth Symphony and held principal chairs in the San Diego Youth Symphony, Grossmont Symphony Orchestra, Cuyamaca Chamber Orchestra, and the East County Youth Symphony.

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As an educator, Christian has taught violin privately since the age of fourteen. He has given masterclasses for the Bruin Chamber Musicians at UCLA, West Hills High School, and the San Diego Christian Suzuki Strings, and has been a guest lecturer for the San Diego Youth Symphony. His students have included members of local youth and community orchestras and freelance performers. Christian has studied private studio, classroom, and music theory pedagogy at Juilliard and has created his own technical and musical exercises for his students.

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A native of El Cajon, California, Christian started the violin at the age of ten. He has studied with Areta Zhulla, Movses Pogossian, Varty Manouelian, Alexander Palamidis, Travis Maril, and Shirley Stafford. Chamber coaches have included Merry Peckham, Norman Fischer, Tai Murray, and members of the Emerson, Takács, Formosa, and Orion quartets among others. Christian has also studied composition and conducting at Juilliard, Alexander Technique at UCLA, and pursued additional musical study at Grossmont College and the SDSU String Academy.

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Outside of music, Christian is a retired competitive wushu athlete. He was an assistant coach and co-president of UCLA Wushu and also a two-time member of the USA Traditional Wushu Team. He competed in the 6th World Wushu Championships, achieved many victories in national level competitions, and helped UCLA win its third national collegiate title in 2019.

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[Press Kit]