{"id":56243,"date":"2018-10-12T17:58:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T21:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=56243"},"modified":"2018-10-13T15:57:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T19:57:51","slug":"profile-chilly-gonzales-i-always-consider-myself-a-musician-who-happens-to-be-playing-the-piano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/10\/12\/profile-chilly-gonzales-i-always-consider-myself-a-musician-who-happens-to-be-playing-the-piano\/","title":{"rendered":"PROFILE | Chilly Gonzales: “I always consider myself a musician who happens to be playing the piano”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chilly
From Daft Punk to Bach, Chilly Gonzales is what’s in-between. Ludwig Van’s Cecilia Lee catches up with Chilly Gonzales about his early days living in Montreal and Toronto, his move to Europe, and his love of the inner workings of music, no matter the genre. (Photo: Alexandre Isard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

H<\/span>ow does one win a Grammy playing the piano? Of course, there are many ways to get your Grammy \u2014 there\u2019s even a big dedicated category just for Classical music.\u00a0 But for Gonzo, it was a cancelled flight that led him to a studio session with a friend in Los Angeles.\u00a0 He sat down and gently pivoted from A minor to B flat minor \u2014 this became \u201dWithin<\/a>,\u201d the fourth track for Daft Punk\u2019s international multi-platinum album Random Access Memories,<\/em>\u00a0 bringing him the 2014 Grammy for the best album of the year.<\/p>\n

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Remember the global craze of the very first generation iPad way back in 2010, and the sticky earworm that came with the magic screen? That was Chilly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you are into the current pop culture and social media, you can\u2019t really escape from Drake. Remember Drake\u2019s\u00a0 80s\u2019-soaked second single, \u201cHold On, We Are Going Home\u201d from his third album, Nothing Was the Same<\/em>? It was Pitchfork Media\u2019s best song of 2013<\/a>.\u00a0 Want some expert opinion on the song by one of Drake\u2019s collaborators, as you scratch your head, wondering what makes it so great? Well, here it is<\/a>.\u00a0 That\u2019s Chilly for the 1Live, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Radio, one of the biggest producers of the German public-broadcasting network.<\/p>\n

Win a Guinness World Record? Chilly\u2019s done it back in 2009, for the Longest Solo Concert by a Solo Artist<\/a>.\u00a0 27 hours, 3 minutes and 44 seconds \u2014 check! Co-produce with Feist? Check. Put together an all-expenses-paid, 8-days workshop and a graduation show<\/a> in Paris for seven young musicians, with guests such as Jarvis Cocker and Kaiser Quartett, and<\/em> cover most of the costs through crowdfunding? (By the way, if that tickles your interest, better get working on your applications ready for 2019 Gonzervatory<\/a> workshop \u2014 for its first year, 2018, Chilly received 800 international video applications.)<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also sold +40,000 copies of piano music books \u2014 a lovely, friendly piano technique book, Re-Introduction Etudes<\/em><\/a>, and sheet music books from his three solo piano albums, the Notebooks.\u00a0 There are 43-thousand YouTube subscribers on his official channel, where Chilly jumps from topic to topic, some theory, some performances, and breaking down the allure chart-singles in simple man\u2019s language: Gonzales Pop Music Masterclass.<\/p>\n