RIP Cris Derksen

 

Canadian music world mourns passing of talented and forward-thinking cellist Cris Derksen

People

By Charlie Smith

May 17, 2026

 

A dazzling Two-Spirit cellist with deep connections to Vancouver has died in a car crash in Northern Alberta. UBC-educated composer and performer Cris Derksen, 45, was driving home from her father’s funeral when the collision occurred. Derksen’s wife, Tuscaroran and Scottish Two-Spirit Iroqueer vocalist Rebecca Bensen, is reportedly in critical condition.

Derksen’s aunt Theresa Johnson wrote a tribute on Facebook to her niece.

“My extraordinary, gifted, radiant, cherished niece Cris may have left us prematurely, but her profound legacy and enchanting music will perpetually uplift me. There has to be a divine purpose why I had to bid farewell to her merely a week after laying my brother Bernie, her dad, to rest,” Johnson wrote. “She serenaded him with her cello one final time, and this poignant moment will forever be etched in my memory as a testament to her remarkable talent.”

In a separate post on Facebook, the AIM Booking Agency said that Derksen (she/they) was much more than a client—she was family.

“To know Cris was to know a force of nature,” the company stated over social media. “She was fiercely authentic and deeply generous, and she brought an uncompromising spirit to everything she touched. Her art was a reflection of her soul: poignant, powerful, grounded in heritage, and relentlessly innovative.”

Many others have also expressed their incredible sadness over the Toronto-based cellist’s sudden passing.

DERKSEN, Cris

Born: 4/20/1981, Mackenzie County, Alberta, Canada

Died: 5/16/2026, Alberta, Canada

 

Cris Derksen’s western – composer:

Shadow Trap – 2019