Sheldon San Kalki is a Swiss musician born in Geneva in 1962, hailing from a family of both amateur and professional musicians. Despite a genetic arm condition (Madelung's deformity) that prevents him from playing instruments with necks—such as guitar, bass, violin, or saxophone—he developed a piano and keyboard style rooted in improvisation, adapting to the fact that virtuosic left-hand playing was not an option for him. Consequently, after training in rhythm and body movement at the Institut Jacques-Dalcroze, struggling to learn the recorder, and studying music theory and classical piano for five years with his aunt Mariette Félix, he turned to jazz, blues, funk, pop, and rock, and later to popular music and piano-bar standards. Sheldon San Kalki has accompanied numerous singers and performed with various orchestras and bands from 1975 to the present, including the *Orchestre du Cycle d'Orientation*; the *Choeur du Collège Voltaire* (performing Monteverdi’s *L'Orfeo* and Mozart’s *Requiem* at Victoria Hall in 1978); the funk-rock group "LO TZE"; Bernie Constantin’s band; singer Brian McCombe; Jesús Garcia’s *Génération* orchestra; and singers Aline Chalifoux, Fabienne Palasciano, and Katy Leander. He has also performed solo as a pianist for bars and dance events in numerous luxury hotels and restaurants across Switzerland and Europe. After completing an apprenticeship as a bookseller at Naville, he went on to train as a specialist musical instrument salesperson and retail employee at Bernard Musique—the renowned musical instrument and sound equipment store visited by every show-business celebrity passing through Geneva.
