Iris Derke

Iris Derke is Co-Founder and General Director of DCINY, a concert production company presenting large-scale performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and prestigious venues worldwide since 2008. Under her leadership, DCINY has united tens of thousands of artists from around the globe in performance and has been named to Inc. Magazine’s 5000 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America eight times.

Iris is a frequent creative collaborator with composers including Eric Whitacre, Sir Karl Jenkins, Heather Sorenson, and Christopher Tin. She served as Executive Producer on the album Messiah Refreshed! featuring the Royal Philharmonic at Abbey Road Studios, and has brought landmark productions including Eric Whitacre’s Paradise Lost to stages in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas.

Iris speaks at the intersection of arts leadership, endurance, and clarity. She has presented at the Association of British Choral Directors in Glasgow, with future appearances at the Inc. Magazine National Student Leadership Conference at Columbia University, and the Sober Sis Quest Retreat in Palm Springs, CA, where she will speak on clarity, New York, and what the past twenty-five years, since 9/11, have revealed. Her work has been featured in Inc. Magazine and Business Insider. She is a proud member of the Chorus America Board of Directors and contributes to the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO), and the International Federation of Choral Music (IFCM).

Flutist Iris Derke has performed internationally with the TURKSOY Symphony Orchestra in Turkey, the Polish National Symphony in Bialystok, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, and DCINY’s Distinguished Concerts Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. World premieres have been written specifically for her, including Dinos Constantinides’ Flute and Harp Concerto at Lincoln Center, and Matej Meštrović’s Flautando at the Zagreb Opera House. Her studio recording credits include Disney, Columbia/RCA, and Apple. Critics have described her playing as “attentive and loving… celestial music… heart-rendering sequences.”

A PADI-certified Rescue Scuba Diver and ultra-endurance athlete, Iris competes in Racing the Planet’s self-supported 155-mile desert ultramarathons, completing stages across Patagonia, Chile’s Atacama Desert, Mongolia, and Finland’s Arctic Circle. She is an eight-time NYC Marathon finisher currently training for her ninth with New York Road Runners, and a regular participant in the NYC Triathlon.

Originally from Santa Monica, California, Iris was educated at UCLA, The Royal College of Music in London, Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University’s School of Business. She is a proud New York City resident with her husband, Rob Derke, a jazz educator and musician, and a leader in the non-profit world. Their daughter, Ella, based in Washington, D.C., is active in international relations and politics.

RECENT MEDIA CLIPS ABOUT MS. DERKE:

Film series “What do you do?” with a feature on Ms. Derke and the great team at DCINY:

INC MAGAZINE spotlight: https://www.inc.com/magazine/202209/inc-staff/founders-series-inc-5000-2022.html

BEHIND THE SCENES at Carnegie Hall with Ms. Derke: https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-behind-the-scenes-at-carnegie-hall-2019-7 

ZAGREB, CROATIA PERFORMANCE: