Chilly Gonzales

The classically-trained Canadian pianist Chilly Gonzales – the stage name he adopted after relocating to Berlin in 1998 – has more facets to his artistic persona than there are keys on his grand piano. The main theme, in orchestral speak, running through all of his musical endeavours, is that of a classically-minded, albeit 21st-century, Renaissance artist. A master of his instrument, he aspires to share his virtuosity with the public and his inspiration with fellow musicians, and continually succeeds on both counts. The contrapuntal line in this theme – at which he also excels – is the composition and reinvention of classical music for the piano, for today and beyond. On his album project Chambers, the creative composer wove rap, ambient, easy-listening and avant-garde threads into a set of classical yet accessible compositions, which he then performed with a chamber music ensemble at live events across Europe and his native Canada. A self-confessed workaholic, Gonzales also teamed up with cutting-edge electro-punk DJ Boys Noize on Octave Minds, an ethereal piano-meets-electronica album and has worked with violinist Daniel Hope on several pieces for the album For Seasons. Gonzales has released two best-selling solo piano albums (Solo Piano I, II & III), a film and soundtrack (Ivory Tower), and an all-orchestral rap album (The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales). He published Re-Introduction Etudes, a collection of sheet music compositions, in 2014, and has hosted several music documentary programmes for the BBC and Arte. The pianist released Room 29, a theatrical song cycle created and performed in collaboration with British lyricist and singer Jarvis Cocker that melds Cocker's lyrics, vocals, and narration with Gonzales' piano compositions. Gonzales' Room 29 is a theatrical song cycle created and performed in collaboration with British lyricist and singer Jarvis Cocker. The staged production of Room 29 melds Cocker's lyrics, vocals and narration with Gonzales' piano compositions. Thematically, the work loosely chronicles the goings-on in the legendary Room 29 – the only room with a grand piano – of the celebrity-haunted Hollywood hotel Chateau Marmont. The project will culminated in Spring 2017 with live performances in Hamburg, London, Paris, Berlin and Edinburgh and the release of the Room 29 album by Deutsche Grammophon.