christian cruz | composer | guitarist

Growing up, Christian Cruz was surrounded by the rock and hip hop music of his native Los Angeles while never forgetting the influence of his Latin American heritage. Christian went on to study guitar performance and composition. He has performed as a solo guitarist internationally in Spain, Mexico, and the United States.

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Education:

• Master of Arts in Music Composition from Fresno State with Dr. Kenneth Froelich and Dr. Benjamin Boone.

• Master in Classical Guitar Performance from Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville with Paco Bernier, Judicael Perroy, Zoran Dukic, Lorenzo Micheli, Paolo Pegoraro and Pablo Marquez.

• Master of Music from University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music with William Kanengiser.

• Bachelor of Music from California State University Northridge with Steve Thachuk and John Dearman.

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Awards & Nominations:

• Volterra Project Composers Award, 2020.

• Fresno State 2nd Annual Art Song Composition Competition - Best Composition Award and Audience Choice Award, 2020.

• Gohar and Ovanes Andriassian Guitar Composition Competition - Intermediate Guitar Ensemble -1st place, 2018.

• American Guitar Society’s Bickford Competition - 1st place, 2013.

• Randy Rhoads Competition Scholarship - California State University Northridge - 1st place, 2012 & 2013.

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List of Works:

Chamber Music & Mixed Ensembles

• Pentanagrams (2020) for String Quartet

• Three Vignettes (2020) for Woodwind Quintet

• Suite Homenajes (2019) for Guitar Trio

• Gray Clouds and White Blossoms (2019) for Solo Guitar, Piano and Guitar Orchestra

• A Reflection (2018) for Guitar Orchestra

• A Study in Depth (2018) for Brass Ensemble, Vibraphone and Harp

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Orchestral

• Elegy (2020) for Full Orchestra

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Solo

• so together (2019) for Solo Voice and Piano

• 12 Sketches (2019) for Solo Guitar

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