Born Ivan Ramirez Cruz in Mexico City (Distrito Federal), Mexico on October 29th, 1994, Ivan is a film composer and jazz guitarist. As a small child, Ivan had a particular interest in the movie industry. When Ivan was five years old, he began writing his own movies and plays to present to his family. Soon, his younger sister Karen became old enough and started acting in his productions. In addition to this, Ivan had an interest in film music as well, and a talent for memorizing the theme songs to his favorite movies, including Star Wars, James Bond, Jurassic Park, Superman, Indiana Jones and many others. Ivan loved to sing or hum the melodies to his family members and would make them listen until he finished the piece. When he was eleven, he moved to a small city in the state of Veracruz where he struggled to make new friends, and, at the same time, experienced a troubling strain in his relationship with his father. Two years later, Ivan’s parents divorced, forcing Ivan to make the difficult decision between staying in Mexico and moving with his mother to the United States.

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"Composing is a great outlet for when I'm feeling down, or for when I'm trying to figure something out"



In July of 2007, Ivan made the decision to move to Springfield, Illinois with his mother, Susana Cruz-Hurt, and younger sister, Karen. He soon befriended pianist Danny Brummel, who is now also an agronomist. When Ivan started high school, he discovered a hidden talent he was not aware of when his mother gifted him his first guitar on Christmas Day, 2009. Within a year of playing, he was already an accomplished guitarist, winning the first couple of rounds of Guitar Center's King of the Blues contest. When he was a sophomore his mother remarried Derek Hurt. Both Ivan's mother and step father realized the talent that Ivan had with the guitar and supported him in his musical journey. That same year, Ivan, with his best friend Danny, created his first Blues music group called "Ofcourse,” deriving the name from an inside joke. Around his senior year of high school, Ivan began composing and started to develop an interest in composing film music as a career, with the support of his parents and friends. After graduating high school Ivan attended Lincoln Land Community College for a year and took online classes at Berklee College of Music. During this time, he joined Lincoln Land's Improvisational Jazz Band directed by Professor Jason Wadell. Most recently, Ivan was accepted to UCLA and will be moving to Los Angeles, CA to finish his studies in Film Scoring. He has composed over a dozen compositions, including the score of a short film, and is currently working on a commercial for Bachrach.