Iva Casian-Lakoš is a Brooklyn-based cellist, singer, and improviser, praised 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 North America and Europe with genre-bending ensembles including Synesthetic Project, Ensemble Illyrica, eco|tonal, PinkNoise Ensemble, and Unheard-of//Ensemble. Her repertoire spans classical cello to new works that integrate movement, voice, and improvisation.

Recent performance highlights include tours with the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) at Lincoln Center’s Geffen Hall and Tanglewood, in a production directed by Peter Sellars; a forthcoming album with legendary vocalist-composer Joan La Barbara, featuring a solo work written for Iva and commissioned by Bang on a Can; and performances at the Long Play Festival and Noguchi Museum. Iva also appears on Christopher Stark’s Fire Ecologies (New Focus) with Unheard-of Ensemble, and on David Crowell’s Point / Cloud (Better Company), which was named one of The Guardian’s Top 10 Contemporary Albums of 2024.

As a composer and improviser, Iva draws on visual and literary sources such as poetry, painting, and film. She collaborates with dancers, videographers, and visual artists on interdisciplinary projects, including her work with the Vienna-based theater collective Synesthetic Project. Her compositions and improvisations have been presented at venues such as the Austrian National Library (Vienna), Scena Amadeo (Zagreb), Noguchi Museum (Queens), Guild Hall Museum (East Hampton), Cultural Ecologies Series (Brooklyn), McNay Art Museum (San Antonio), and Modfest (Poughkeepsie).

In 2017, Iva co-founded Ensemble Illyrica, a Zagreb-based chamber group performing classical, folk-inspired, and newly commissioned works. Praised for their “creative ecstasy, freshness, tonal harmony and rhythmic clarity” (Novi List), Illyrica has appeared at Wiener Musikverein, Zagreb Biennale, Lednice-Valtice Music Festival, Kultursommer Wien, Festival Arsana, and the Hvar Summer Festival. Their debut album was released on Hitchtone Music in 2022.

A dedicated chamber musician, Iva has collaborated with Derek Bermel, JACK Quartet, Emerson Quartet, Argus, The Rhythm Method, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Crosstown Arts, Rites of Spring, Versipel New Music, Hidalgo Festival, and Vivo Music Festival. As a soloist, she has performed with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, New Albany Symphony, SEO Symphony Orchestra, and Vassar College Orchestra, and holds top prizes in national competitions including the Hellam Young Artists Competition.

She has presented workshops, lectures, and masterclasses at institutions such as NYU, UC Davis, Oberlin Conservatory, University of Georgia, Brooklyn College, and more. In 2019, she was invited to the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, where she gave what SCGP News called an “excellent performance” and “enlightening lecture” on Ruth Crawford’s String Quartet 1931.

Iva holds a DMA from Stony Brook University, where she received the Presidential Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Distinguished Travel Award, and Ackerman Chamber Music Award. She also holds degrees from the New England Conservatory (MM) and Oberlin Conservatory (BM). Her mentors include Colin Carr, Amir Eldan, Natasha Brofsky, Gustavo Tavares, Silvija Sondeckienė, Dobrila Berkovic-Magdalenic, and Lluis Claret.

She currently teaches at Vassar College and Musart Music.