BIO

Music has been the driving force of Anika Zak's life for as long as she can remember. Growing up as a second generation Canadian of Polish heritage in British Columbia, she attended Langley Fine Arts school where she majored in music. In 2016-2017 she earned multiple Royal Conservatory of Music certificates including those for Grade Nine Voice and Grade Nine Piano. Zak was also given the opportunity to have two of her original piano compositions, “Menuet in A Major” ​ and "Nightfall on the Lake,”  published in the collection, ​Creative Canadians Compose. The Regina Gyro Club awarded her the Young Composer’s Prize in 2018 and 2019 for her new music ensemble works, Geography and Spheres of Time.

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Zak will be a participant in the 2020 Screen Music Program where she will recieve mentorship in applied composition to DAW scoring, compositional devices, and music under dialogue and narration. Faculty for this course includes industry professionals Harry Gregson-Williams, Jeff Russo, and Inon Zur. Additionally, Zak will partake in the ICEBERG New Music Institute in Vienna, Austria during 2021. She will recieve daily composition training and have her work publicly performed and recorded by Trio Immersio, an internationally-recognized ensemble. Stephanie Ann Boyd, Harry Stafylakis, and Oscar Bianchi are some mentors in this program. 

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Within Canada, SaskNewMusic has commissioned Zak to create a piano solo work to be performed at their 2020 Strata New Music Festival.

 

Currently in her final year of the Bachelor of Music program at the University of Regina, Zak majors in Composition and minors in Creative Technologies. The young composer enojys exploring different sound colours in her works, as well as superimposing traditional musical forms and styles with contemporary elements. For her commitment to music and academics, the university has awarded her with nineteen scholarships to date.

 

After graduation, Anika plans to pursue graduate studies in music composition at McGill University, Quebec.