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, the New World Center, Copley Hall, and the Rady Shell. He is also busy establishing the Christian Gonzales Violin Studio which aims to provide elite-level violin instruction in San Diego.

​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 been awarded fellowships to attend the Tanglewood and Aspen festivals as well as the New World Symphony.

​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.

​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 in side-by-sides with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the San Diego Symphony, and professionally with various orchestras including the New World Symphony, Jacaranda Music, San Diego City Ballet, and the Grossmont Symphony Orchestra. He was also the concertmaster of the International Youth Symphony and held principal chairs in the San Diego Youth Symphony, Cuyamaca Chamber Orchestra, and the East County Youth Symphony.

As an educator, Christian's students have included members of community orchestras, youth orchestras, and freelance performers. He has given masterclasses for All About Music San Diego, 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. Christian has studied private studio, classroom, and music theory pedagogy at Juilliard and has created his own technical and musical exercises for his students. 

​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.

Outside of music, Christian is a wushu practitioner and retired competitive athlete. He was a member of the 2014 and 2017 USA Traditional Wushu Teams, and an assistant coach and co-president of UCLA Wushu. He competed in the 6th World Traditional Wushu Championships, qualified for competitions such as the 11th Pan American Wushu Championships and the 7th World Kung Fu Championships, and helped UCLA win its third national collegiate wushu title in 2019.