The baritone Ivan Krutikov was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. From 2001 to 2006, he studied in the linguistics faculty at Novgorod State University, and at the same time he studied philosophy. From 2005 to 2012, Ivan studied at the N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St Petersburg, in the class of Vladimir Vaneev. In 2012–2014, he was a soloist with the St Petersburg Mikhailovsky Opera Theatre, in 2014 he sang at Vladivostok Opera Theatre, and in 2015 and 2016 at Theater Pforzheim. Since 2016, he has worked at Bonn Opera Theatre.