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Gaël Rakotondrabe was born on Réunion Island into a musically rich family (he is the great-nephew of René Lacaille). He began playing piano at 11 and, by 17, earned his diploma from the Regional Conservatory, securing third place in the "Pian'Austral Jazz" competition. In 2001, he moved to Paris to study at the Bill Evans Piano Academy, later graduating from both the Bill Evans Academy and the Nadia and Lily Boulanger Conservatory.
Rakotondrabe’s career flourished with his quintet dedicated to Horace Silver, which won the Sunside Trophy in 2005. In 2007, he performed at Carnegie Hall and began working with CocoRosie, contributing as pianist, arranger, and co-producer, touring internationally through 2011. His collaboration with the band spanned from 2007 to 2011, including tours across the globe, performances at prestigious venues like Coachella, the Sydney Opera House, and the Olympia in Paris.
His 2008 win of the first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival's international piano competition, with Fazil Say as jury president and Quincy Jones as honorary president, led to the "Montreux Jazz Winner" tour.
Rakotondrabe’s theater and opera work includes serving as musical director for Robert Wilson’s The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, with Anohni, Marina Abramović, and Willem Dafoe. He also collaborated with Antony and the Johnsons on worldwide tours. In film, he composed scores for Afterschool (2008), Mystery (2012), and University of Disaster (2017), featured at the Venice Biennale.
A prolific producer, he worked with Yasmine Hamdan, Mélanie Pain, Woodkid, and CocoRosie. In 2022, his score for Other People's Children earned nominations at the Venice Film Festival and Sundance. In 2023, his compositions for The Wild One, awarded Best Cinematography at Tribeca, and On the Edge, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Champs-Élysées Film Festival, further solidified his standing in contemporary music.