SHHH!! Ensemble is the electrifying collision of percussionist Zac Pulak and pianist Edana Higham, two musicians redefining what “classical” sounds like. SHHH!!’s signature avant-accessible style fuses the experimental with the familiar, resulting in performances and recordings that are “truly virtuosic and intense” (Confluence Concerts).
Since forming SHHH!! Ensemble in 2017, Zac and Edana developed and honed their distinctive approach through residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canadian Music Centre, Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, Music Gallery, Destelheide, and Avaloch Farm Music Institute.
With an insatiable appetite for experimentation, SHHH!! has commissioned over two dozen new works for piano-percussion duo, beginning with Meanwhile by John Beckwith in 2018. Following that initial collaboration, SHHH!! continues to build a repertoire of unique music for their ensemble with compositions by some of the world’s most creative voices including Kelly-Marie Murphy, Jocelyn Morlock, Monica Pearce, Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis, Frank Horvat, Carmen Braden, and many others.
SHHH!! Ensemble’s ongoing creativity and vitality have been especially notable, with one critic commenting, “This virtuoso duo are so agile and inventive… I doubt anything short of a geological cataclysm will shut them down” (The WholeNote). Major highlights in 2020–2022 include the duo’s acceptance into the prestigious Evolution: Classical career development residency at the Banff Centre, a National Arts Centre #CanadaPerforms concert, the world premiere of JUNO-winning composer Jocelyn Morlock’s Spirit Gradient with the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival in Newfoundland, a cover story in The WholeNote magazine, and a nationally broadcast recital on the CBC Music program In Concert.
In February 2023, SHHH!! Ensemble “enthralled” (Winnipeg Free Press) in their debut as soloists in the world premiere of Kelly-Marie Murphy’s concerto Machines, Mannequins, and Monsters with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, a work commissioned especially for SHHH!! by the orchestra. Repeat performances of the concerto with the Symphony Orchestras of Ottawa and Thunder Bay were met with standing ovations.
Described as “a beautiful discovery” by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, SHHH!! Ensemble has captivated audiences across the country performing at festivals and series such as Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music, Scotia Festival of Music, New Works Calgary, Winnipeg New Music Festival, BIGLAKE Festival, Montreal New Musics Festival, Sweetwater Music Festival, and many more. The duo has also recorded for the Analekta, Centrediscs, Redshift Records, and Leaf Music labels.
As artistic directors of the Ottawa New Music Creators since 2021, Zac and Edana take pride in their role as presenters of weird and wonderful new sounds in the National Capital Region, curating programs known for cutting-edge invention and showcasing local and international artists.
SHHH!! Ensemble’s debut album Meanwhile (Analekta) was released in October 2022 to critical acclaim, reaching top positions on Apple Music and Spotify playlists, as well as being nominated for “Classical Recording of the Year” at the 2023 East Coast Music Awards. SHHH!!’s follow-up album, An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene (Leaf Music), released in October 2023 and was nominated for both “Classical Recording of the Year” and “Electronic Recording of the Year” for the 2025 ECMAs. La Scena Musicale gave it a 5-star rating, calling the project a “masterpiece” and “a much-needed reminder of the healthy world we are all working towards.”
SHHH!! Ensemble’s latest touring program, Starry Night, features music written for the Edana and Zac by composers Harry Stafylakis, Monica Pearce, Mari Alice Conrad, and Paolo Griffin, alongside previously existing works by Vincent Ho and Jocelyn Morlock. The lush and impressionistic soundscape reflects on the night sky and our shared place in the universe. Starry Night has been performed at major festivals and concert series such as Music Toronto, Groundswell, New Works Calgary, Ottawa Chamberfest, Under the Spire, Scotia Festival of Music, and many more. Starry Night releases as SHHH!!’s third album in November 2026.
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