Ivann Cruz studied classical guitar and turned to jazz and improvised music. He graduated from the Conservatoire National de Région of Lille in jazz section, and from The University of Lille with a Master’s degree in Musical Composition and a DEA in Aesthetics and Arts Practice. During his university education he studied musical improvisation with Fred Van Hove. He was a member of the C.R.I.M.E, an improvised and experimental music collective based at la malterie in Lille and is an active member of the Muzzix collective since its creation in 2010.

He invests a lot in interpretation, composition, improvisation and experimentation in solo or through projects as eclectic as numerous: TOC, Le Grand Orchestre de Muzzix, Otto, OGR, TOCC Beat Club, Aphar’s Cave, Des Pieds et des mains…

He has performed on many stages in France and abroad (tours in Europe, USA, Canada).

He regularly composes and performs stage music for the theater or film-concerts.
In 2014 he composed and created the documentary performance Trading Litany, and in 2019, the multimedia project Puzzle, based on an augmented guitar device developed with Loïc Reboursière and Olivier Lautem. In 2024, he created the immersive sound and olfactory experience Neroli (Brian Eno).

During his studies and activity as a performer/improviser, he met and worked with : Ars Nova ensemble, Sakina Abdou, Didier Aschour, Olivier Benoit, Jean-François Canape, Médéric Collignon, Philippe Deschepper, Marc Ducret, Satoko Fuji, Michel Godart, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Tom Johnson, Liz Kosack, Ingrid Laubrock, Thierry Madiot, Gérard Marais, Jean-Marc Montera, Peter Orins, Anthony Pateras, Edward Perraud, Michael Pisaro, Christian Pruvost, Dave Rempis, James Saunders, Jérémie Ternoy, Fred Van Hove, Camel Zekri…

In theater, he has worked as a composer or performer with the companies : Interlude T/O, Cendres la Rouge, the company of the Oiseau Mouche, Thierry Roisin and Blandine Savetier, Arnaud Anckaert, Thierry Poquet and Eolie Songe.

For cinema, he composed the music for the film How it begins (Chloé Wasp – Le Fresnoy) and for the video installation And you want to travel blind (Chloé Wasp – Le Fresnoy).

He regularly leads workshops on the practice of collective improvisation (Conservatories of Lille and Tourcoing).

His artistic approach consists in questioning the processes which are activated between on the one hand, a sound world composed in the moment and on the other hand, the instrumental gesture and the constraints of the environment where it unfolds. Since 2021, he has been developing a work that brings together natural environments and improvised musical creation while integrating an eco-responsible dimension to this approach.