NYC-based cellist, singer, and improviser Iva Casian-Lakoš is known for her “fiery cello playing” (David Lang via Sequenza 21) and for singing “with an exquisite fragility” (Christian Carey, Sequenza 21). A first-generation American of Mexican-Croatian descent, Iva performs across the North America and Europe with interdisciplinary, genre-bending ensembles Synesthetic Project, Ensemble Illyrica, eco|tonal, PinkNoise Ensemble, and Unheard-of//Ensemble. Her versatile repertoire ranges from classical cello to boundary-stretching new works involving choreography, singing, acting, and improvisation.

Recent performance highlights include tours with American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), Bang on a Can All-Stars, and a forthcoming album with legendary vocalist and composer Joan La Barbara, featuring a solo work written for Iva commissioned by Bang on a Can and performed at Long Play Festival and Noguchi Museum.

As a composer and improviser, Iva responds to visual or textual stimuli such as poetry, films, and paintings. She enjoys collaborations with visual artists, videographers, and dancers in interdisciplinary projects, including her work with the Vienna based theater collective Synesthetic Project. Iva has recorded improvisations with Joan La Barbara and David Crowell, and has performed her own compositions at Scena Amadeo (Zagreb, Croatia), Noguchi Museum (Queens), Guild Hall Museum (East Hamptons), Cultural Ecologies Series (Brooklyn), Tandem (San Antonio), Vassar College (Poughkeepsie), and more.

In 2017, she co-founded Zagreb-based Ensemble Illyrica, a chamber ensemble which performs classical repertoire alongside folk-based music and newly commissioned works. Hailed for their “creative ecstasy, freshness, tonal harmony and rhythmic clarity,” (Novi List) Illyrica has performed in major venues and festivals across Ireland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia, such as Lednice-Valtice Music Festival, Wiener Musikverein, Zagreb Biennale, Scena Amadeo, Kultursommer Wien, Festival Arsana, and Hvar Summer Festival. Illyrica released their first classical album on Hitchtone Music in 2022.

As a chamber musician, Iva has collaborated with members of JACK, Emerson, Argus, Calidore, and Ying quartets, and appeared in concert halls around the United States, including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center (Millennium Stage), and Jordan Hall. Iva was also invited to Crosstown Arts (Memphis, TN), Rites of Spring (Southold, NY), Versipel New Music (New Orleans), Hidalgo Festival (Munich, DE), and Vivo Music Festival (Columbus, OH). In her student years, Iva attended IMS Prussia Cove (Cornwall, UK), Barnes Ensemble (Philadelphia), Sarasota Music Festival, Kneisel Hall (Blue Hill, ME), and New York Strings Symphony Orchestra Seminar.

Iva won top prizes in national competitions, such as Hellam Young Artists Competition, and has given concerto performances with Columbus Symphony Orchestra, New Albany Symphony, and SEO Symphony Orchestra.

In 2019, Iva was invited to lecture at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, where she gave “an excellent performance” and “enlightening lecture” (SCGP News) on Ruth Crawford’s String Quartet “1931”. Iva has also given workshops and masterclasses with Unheard-of//Ensemble, PinkNoise, and Wavefield Ensemble at Columbia University, New York University, UC Davis, Oberlin Conservatory, Kent State, University of Texas-San Antonio, University of New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana University, Chattanooga State Community College, University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, Illinois State, Washington U St. Louis, Bowling Green University, Columbus State, Brooklyn College.

In 2022, Iva received her DMA from Stony Brook University. She was awarded the 2022 Presidential Dissertation Completion Fellowship, as well as the 2022 Distinguished Travel Award, and 2019 Ackerman Chamber Music Award. She also holds a BM from Oberlin Conservatory and MM from New England Conservatory. Her mentors include Colin Carr, Amir Eldan, Natasha Brofsky, Gustavo Tavares, Silvija Sondeckiene, Dobrila Berkovic-Magdalenic, and Lluis Claret.

Iva serves as faculty at Musart Music and will join the music department at Vassar College in September 2024.