Award-winning Cree composer and cellist Cris Derksen has died following a car crash in northern Alberta.
Derksen, originally from Treaty 8 territory in Alberta, composed the music for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s 2024 production of Cameron Fraser-Moore’s ballet Tel: Wild Man of the Woods.
According to reports, the crash occurred while Derksen and wife, singer Rebecca Benson, were travelling home from Derksen’s father’s funeral in Tall Cree First Nation. Benson was reportedly left in critical condition in hospital.
News of Cris’ passing filled social media on Saturday night; the endless list of friends, fans and collaborators describing themselves as gutted, shattered and devastated by the news is a testament to her enormous impact on the music scene both in Canada and around the world.
Cris was a Juno and Western Canadian Music Award nominee and a winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award, an Indigenous Music Award and an Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Award.
Derksen was also the founder of the Indigenous Classical Gathering at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
Cris was 45.
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