Indigenous cellist and composer Cris Derksen dead after car crash

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Juno-nominated Indigenous cellist and composer Cris Derksen has died.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Juno-nominated Indigenous cellist and composer Cris Derksen has died.

AIM Booking Agency, which represents Derksen, says in a social media post she died in a car accident but no further information about the crash was included.

A biography of Derksen on the National Arts Centre website says she hailed from northern Alberta and that her music weaved “her classical background and Indigenous ancestry with new school electronics to create genre-defying music.”

Derksen told the Penticton Herald in an interview earlier this month that she was living in Ontario.

Kathleen Allan, artistic director of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto and Chorus Niagara, says she recently worked with Derksen and her death has left many devasted.

Allan says Derken’s music challenged audiences to listen more deeply to one another, and to take meaningful action to create change beyond the concert stage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2026.

Report Error Submit a Tip