Cree composer and cellist Cris Derksen will have her work premiered with the Amadeus Choir, Ballet Kelowna and Toronto Symphony Orchestra.Jen Squires/Supplied
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra will soon premiere Cree composer and cellist Cris Derksen’s Still Here, which draws on the everyday experiences of Indigenous patients at the city’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Co-presented by CAMH, the 15-minute composition is a collaboration between Derksen and two TSO musicians, as well as First Nations, Inuit and Métis patients at the hospital.
One CAMH participant is a Leonard Cohen fan. So, the chord progression famously referenced in Hallelujah − “the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift” − was incorporated. One collaborator said he was moved to tears by an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1992, titled The Inner Light.
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“I thought that was special,” Derksen said earlier this week on a video call. “An Indigenous man telling me what made him cry.”
Other participants used phones to record sounds for musical ideas. Wood blocks mimic the tick-tock of the street-crossing signal; a tin whistle plays the notes heard when subway doors are closing.
Everybody, it seems, wants to board Derksen’s train these days.
She recently scored Cikilaxwm: Controlled Burn, Cameron Fraser-Monroe’s new dance for Ballet Kelowna in British Columbia, where it will debut this week. The ballet was inspired by her symphonic piece Controlled Burn, commissioned by Canada’s superstar conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin for Montreal’s Metropolitan Orchestra. Derksen played cello when the piece was performed at Carnegie Hall in 2023.
On May 25, three movements of Derksen’s Mass for Nipiy: A Prayer For Water, a choral piece from 2023 commissioned by Toronto’s Amadeus Choir, will be presented at the same famed New York venue.
There is a social consciousness consistent in the work of the Juno-nominated composer, who blends elements of classical, Indigenous and rock music. Her Controlled Burn was a response to Canadian wildfires; Mass for Nipiy is a seven-movement work themed to Indigenous water sovereignty.
“What I think is incredible about being a composer is our ability to shine a light on whatever you think society should be thinking about,” said the Toronto-based musician, originally from Treaty 8 territory in northern Alberta.
Derksen’s Still Here makes its world premiere in a program that includes Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9. It is the second major Art of Healing commission to be performed by the TSO, following the program’s inaugural work developed with composer Ian Cusson.
“We were also familiar with her earlier orchestral work, Orchestral Powwow," said Nicole Balm, TSO’s senior director of education and community engagement. "Given her strong connection to the city and her commitment to Indigenous storytelling, she was a natural fit for Art of Healing."
The TSO-CAMH program is one of several recent wellness initiatives developed by arts organizations across Canada. The Ottawa Art Gallery, for example, partnered with the Dementia Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County to bring virtual one-on-one sessions with artists to seniors in their homes.
Last year, the BC Alliance for Arts + Culture completed a three-year research program with organizations such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Arts Club Theatre Company. Patients were connected to performances and arts experiences, with participants reporting increased energy, stronger social connections and a greater sense of cultural identity.
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Before selections from Derksen’s Mass for Nipiy are presented at Carnegie Hall, the full work will be performed at an Amadeus Choir concert in Toronto on May 9, at the Playground at Artists’ Play. Derksen, a cellist who uses a looping-effects pedal to create audio textures, will perform in a program that also features works from composers Andrew Balfour and Sherryl Sewepagaham.
The piece was commissioned by Amadeus Choir conductor and artistic director Kathleen Allan. She found the composer to be a generous collaborator, yet uncompromising.
“It’s quite satisfying as a choir to look at a score and know how convinced the composer is about what they wrote,” Allan said. “Cris wrote exactly what she wanted to hear, and we’re just striving to hear to serve her vision.”
Because of the time-consuming process needed to secure a visa, Derksen won’t be performing when her piece is presented at Carnegie Hall. She’s disappointed she won’t be able to make the trip, but hardly shattered.
Her reasoning? “I’ve been there before, and I shall go again, I’m sure.”
The TSO performs Still Here April 30 and May 1, at Roy Thomson Hall.