Our Director

Zane Zalis

Zane is a composer/producer/educator and the founder of the Music Production program, Mighty Mac Studio, and Prodigy at Miles Macdonell Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He has composed/arranged extensively and produced numerous works for the students of MMC. Professionally, Zane has created music for or with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Opera Canada Symphony, CBC (television/radio), Rainbow Stage, national/international recording & performing artists across Canada and in Europe. As a composer Zane was invited to New York to become a member of the prestigious BMI Musical Theatre Workshops. His symphonic contemporary oratorio – I Believe- has been performed to sell out audiences in Winnipeg (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra), Toronto (Roy Thomson Hall), and Murau (Austria) and excerpted as a guest presenter in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem. Additionally, Zane is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Murau International Music Festival (Austria) and a member of SOCAN. It is a regular practice of Zane's to include students in his professional projects providing unparalleled learning opportunities. He is most proud of his students who have worked intensely to achieve personal excellence in the emotionally vulnerable, intellectually demanding and exacting studies of composition and musical performance. The learning is carried for a lifetime. Additionally, graduates of MMC music programs have achieved tremendous professional success and recognition in a host of careers, not exclusively but including - professional musicians, Broadway/ musical theatre, composition, Professorship, major recording label signings, Grammy nominated projects, producers, educators, audio engineers etc.

In recognition of his work in music and education Zane is the recipient of the following awards-
• Prime Ministers Award for Teaching Excellence
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
• Lieutenant Governor's Medal for the Advancement of Inter-Religious Understanding
• Canadian Interfaith Leadership Award
• Composer laureate: St. Paul's College, University of Manitoba
• Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal