Christian Cruz

Christian Cruz is a Mexican-American classical musician. As a native of Los Angeles, he grew up surrounded with the rock and hip hop scenes while simultaneously being influenced by the Latin American music of his own heritage. As a young guitarist he played rock in Hollywood venues such as the Whiskey A Go Go and the Roxy. Christian began his studies as a professional musician at Fullerton College, where he focused on classical guitar and composition. He has studied classical guitar with Dr. Steve Thachuk and Grammy award winners William Kanengiser and John Dearman. Christian participated in the second annual Master in Classical Guitar Performance program in Seville where he performed numerous times at the chapel in the Alcázar of Seville. He has received several awards including Best Composition Award and Audience Choice Award for his adaptation of so together, a poem written by former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera for the 2020 Fresno State Art Song Composition Competition as well as the 2020 Volterra Project Composers Award for his guitar trio Suite Homenajes. Christian has a Bachelor of Music from California State University Northridge and a Master of Music from University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music both in classical guitar performance. He also holds a Master of Arts in Music Composition from Fresno State where he studied with Dr. Kenneth Froelich and Dr. Benjamin Boone.