Cris Derksen, a renowned Cree cellist and composer, is being remembered as a trailblazer who served as a pillar of the Indigenous classical music community.
Derksen, 45, died in a highway crash in northern Alberta. Reports from friends and family say Derksen was fatally injured Friday driving home after attending the funeral of their father in Tallcree First Nation, near Fort Vermilion, Alta.
“It is with profound, shattering sadness that we share the news of the sudden passing of our dear friend, client, and visionary artist, Cris Derksen, following a car accident,” Derksen’s AIM Booking Agency said in a statement Sunday morning.
According to multiple statements issued by friends, collaborators and musical institutions across Canada, Derksen’s wife and frequent musical collaborator, Rebecca Benson, was critically injured in the crash and remains in hospital.
Alberta RCMP tells CBC News both drivers involved in the Highway 44 crash Friday evening were taken from the scene with serious, life-threatening injuries, while a person in the passenger seat, since identified as Derksen, sustained fatal injuries.
“We pay tribute to a singular and committed artist, and to a deeply human, generous, and authentic person,” the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal wrote in a public tribute Monday.
“Our thoughts are with her partner, who is fighting for her life, as well as with her family, loved ones, and all the communities affected by this loss.”
A ‘foot in many worlds’
Derksen was acclaimed across Canada and internationally as a composer and performer, bringing their music to stages across the world.
Derksen, a two-spirit artist originally from Tallcree in Treaty 8 territory in Alberta, provided audiences with unique, genre-defying compositions.
A classically trained cellist, Derksen’s music was a blend of classical string music, electronica, folk and traditional Indigenous songs.
Derksen’s arrangements, which often feature traditional melodies and powwow drums and chants, won acclaim for pushing the boundaries of classical music and opening the genre to new audiences.
In a memorial statement issued Sunday, the National Arts Centre praised the internationally respected musician for bringing “a powerful and unmistakable voice to contemporary music, weaving together classical training, Indigenous traditions, and electronic innovation. Their work resonated across the country and the world.”
Derksen, who was of dual Cree and Mennonite ancestry, saw music as a powerful tool for storytelling, connection and advocacy.
The National Arts Centre described Derksen as a composer with a “foot in many worlds,” with music that weaved together a “classical background and Indigenous ancestry with new school electronics to create genre-defying music.”
Kathleen Allan, artistic director of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto and Chorus Niagara, says she recently worked with Derksen and Derksen’s death has left many devastated.
Allan said Derksen’s music challenged audiences to listen more deeply to one another, and to take meaningful action to create change beyond the concert stage.