Born in 1963 in Algiers, grew up in Nice. He received his initial musical education at the Nice Conservatory and the Higher National Conservatory of Lyon, then studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1985, he won the International Yehudi Menuhin Competition in the Contemporary Music category. For several years he was concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra, then began a solo career. Known not only as a representative of the academic direction, but also as a performer of traditional music (from bluegrass to verbunkosh) and jazz. In 1999, he founded his own record label Apapaziz Productions, on which he released more than ten albums of various genres.

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He regularly gives concerts around the world, performs at festivals in Lille, Ile-de-France, Rheingau, Dresden, Ludwigsburg, Turin, Milan, Tokyo and others. Berlin, San Francisco, Vancouver, Dresden, Hamburg Philharmonic, Boston Philharmonic, Russian National, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

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He founded the quartet Colors of Invention, which combines the performance of classical and folklore, the crossover ensemble The Transylvanian Mountain Boys. He also plays as part of the ethno-jazz project Meduoteran. Collaborates with Celtic violinist Kevin Burke, Indian violinist Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, gypsy violinist Robi Lakatosh, jazz violinist Didier Lockwood, flamenco dancer Belen Maya.

He taught at the Yehudi Menuhin Academy in Gstaad (Switzerland), the Yehudi Menuhin School in London, the University of Benares in India, and annually conducts international master classes in different countries of the world. The French director Bruno Monsaingeon made three documentaries with the participation of Gilles Apap.