Chilly Gonzales

Born in Montreal in 1972, Chilly Gonzales has forged a career at the crossroads of classical piano, pop, and hip-hop, moving between North America and Europe. After settling first in Berlin and then in Paris, he made his mark on the independent scene in the late 1990s before gradually refocusing his work on solo piano. The album Solo Piano (2004) marked a turning point, featuring a stripped-down melodic writing that Gonzales extended on Solo Piano II (2012) and Solo Piano III (2018), while Chambers (2015) explored a format akin to chamber music. In parallel, he has multiplied collaborations in pop and electronic music, notably with Feist; with Jarvis Cocker on the conceptual project Room 29 (2017); and on recordings by Daft Punk and Drake. On stage, Chilly Gonzales alternates intimate recitals with more theatrical concerts, often weaving in pedagogical talks about music history and theory. His work spans piano compositions, orchestral arrangements, conceptual projects, and thematic recordings such as A Very Chilly Christmas (2020), shaping an oeuvre in which classical vocabulary is in constant dialogue with the codes of contemporary pop.