On Thursday, February 27th, Beach United Church (140 Wineva Ave.) will be a polling station for the provincial election from 9am-9pm.
In past elections, representatives of various faith communities in Beaches East York, including Beach United, organized all-candidates meetings where they were asked questions on matters of concern to people of faith.
In the current provincial election, the timeframe was too short to organize an all-candidates meeting. A few representatives of local faith communities developed a short list of questions for the candidates. The PDF linked herecompiles answers to the questions from each of the candidates. We have also included links to their campaigns and to Beach Metro News, which provide additional information on the candidates and their party platforms.
Beach United Church is excited to present celebrated organist David Simon, as he shares a modern Advent and Christmas-themed concert for the Holiday season, including works by Derek Holman, Adolphus Hailstork, and Melissa Dunphy on Saturday, December 21st at 4:30pm. Let the majestic sound of the Beach United Church organ wash over you and fill you with the spirit of the Holiday season at this ‘not-to-be-missed’ Christmas concert.
David Simon is an organ recitalist, liturgical musician, and music instructor. He is the Director of Music at the historic Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto where he directs the Gallery Choir, accompanies the liturgy, and maintains the musical tradition made famous by the work of his predecessor Healey Willan. David also has the privilege of teaching organ, piano, and music theory at St. Michael’s Choir School, having grown up there as a chorister himself. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University and has studied with Thomas Murray, Jeff Brillhart, and Patricia Wright. He is a Fellow of the RCCO, winning prizes for top national achievement.
A prize-winning recitalist and improviser, David won first prize in both the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO) national competition and the University of Michigan’s organ improvisation competition. David has performed across North America, the UK, Europe, and Russia, and he maintains a busy concert and teaching schedule. He is in particular demand as an organ improvisation teacher, giving lectures for Organ Festival Canada, instructing at the RCCO Summer Organ Academy, and giving masterclasses for various centers of the RCCO; David also maintains a private studio which includes students from across Canada.
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Beach United‘s warm, inviting hall serves as the perfect backdrop for this concert – the concert is pay-what-you-can, and proceeds support our year-round community programs
We are excited to present acclaimed Canadian Jazz musicians Joe Sealy, Paul Novotny and Heather Bambrick on Saturday, December 14th at 4:30pm as they celebrate the season with original songs and holiday favourites. Performing songs off their recent Christmas release, ‘The Man in the Red Suit’, as well as well-known holiday classics, this is not a concert you’ll want to miss!
Entry is pay what you can, with a suggested minimum donation of $10. All proceeds go towards Beach United’s year-round Community Programs.
About our Performers
Paul Novotny In his 40-year career, Canadian bassist, composer, music producer, author, educator, and innovator Paul Novotny has performed with such eminent international jazz artists as Kenny Wheeler, Geoff Keezer, Cedar Walton, Junior Mance, Jo-Anne Brakeen, and singers David Clayton Thomas, Roger Whitaker, John Findley, Jackie Richardson, Ranee Lee, Aida Lee, Barbra Lica, and Holy Cole.
A multiple Juno-nominated co-leader with pianist/composer Joe Sealy, Novotny produced five recordings, including Sealy’s 1996 Juno-winning Africville Suite on his Triplet Records label. In addition, he has co-written songs with singers Dan Hill, and Molly Johnson.
In 1994, he produced singer Carol Welsman’s Juno-nominated recording Lucky to Be Me, which led to a performance at Club Blue Note in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 1993, he performed with the Holy Cole Trio at the Japanese Grand Prix Golden Disc Awards as the Trio won awards for Best New Artist and Best Jazz Album. In 2012, he produced, performed on, and released Barbra Lica’s first album That’s What I Do, which debuted at #1 on the Canadian iTunes jazz chart and was released in Japan by Universal Music.
As a composer and performer, Novotny has created music and sound design for commercials, feature films, television franchises, and video games including: The Canadian Broadcasting Company’s The National (2021) and The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (2004), Newsworld’s News Now (2005), the (2016) film short Mishka, and the soundtrack for the internationally acclaimed, multi-platinum award winning Cuphead video game in (2017).
Novotny is on the faculty of Centennial College, Toronto, and the pedagogical educational advisory committees for Neumann, Eventide, The Les Paul Foundation, OekSound, Bettermaker, and Sonarworks.
Joe Sealy For more than five decades Joe Sealy has enjoyed a successful career as a musician, actor, composer, music director and recording artist. Tours have also played a significant part in Joe’s career. Some of the more notable ones include:
6 months on the road with Blood, Sweat and Tears;
19 concert tour of Africville Suite(including an appearance at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.);
20 city national tour of Timothy Findlay’s Piano Man’s Daughter(along with Veronica Tennant and Sylvia Tyson);
2 week tour of Norway and Denmark including a performance at the world famous Jazz House in Copenhagen.
4 Time Juno Nominee and 1 juno Award Winner
All of this work and success has not gone unnoted. Joe is both proud of, and humbled by, the acclaim he has received. Major awards include: a Juno Award for CD, Africville Suite; the Dora Mavor MooreAward for music direction in the Toronto production of Ain’t Misbehavin; and a GeminiAward nominationfor his musical score for the documentary film The Road Taken.
In 2010, Joe was invested in The Order Of Canada.
Heather Bambrick JUNO-nominated vocalist Heather Bambrick prides herself on being an entertainer through and through. From her skillful, effortless interaction with audiences, to the variety and breadth of her material, Heather approaches every aspect of her performances with the goal of leaving audiences feeling far better after her shows than before they arrived. This is why her concerts have been described as what happens when “Ella Fitzgerald meets Carol Burnett at a Newfoundland kitchen party”.
It’s not only audiences who appreciate Heather’s talent. Critics and industry professionals place Heather on the top rung of the musical ladder. “Heather hits every right note”, says Mark Rheume of CBC Radio. WholeNote Magazine calls her “one of the finest jazz singers in this country”, and All About Jazz says her voice is a “paragon of clarity” and that “she’s the real deal in every way”.
As one of Canada’s top Jazz vocalists, Heather has collaborated with some of the best around, including Phil Nimmons, Fred Hirsch, Gene DiNovi, Guido Basso, Anne Hampton Callaway, Carol Welsman, Jackie Richardson, Ian Shaw, as well as the late Rob McConnell and Peter Appleyard. She’s a founding member of vocal ensembles The Beehive Singers and Broadsway, and has appeared as a guest performer with numerous Jazz ensembles, as well as with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.
Beach United Church is pleased to present Music for the Soul on Saturday, November 16th at 4:30pm with acclaimed singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi. She will take you through a transformative musical experience in her unique and poetic musical style, drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the United States.
Tickets are pay what you can, with suggested prices of $10 or $15. Proceeds go towards supporting Beach United’s music programming and year-round community programs.
In a world where language is forged as rushed texts and tweets, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi takes her time crafting lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, often using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. She delights in nuance and detail – the way words sound, the way they’re shaped, the way they roll around on the palate. Her songs resonate with stories that are relatable, but told in new and unexpected ways.
Shawna spent years on the road playing festivals, concert halls, train cars, backyards, and living rooms, drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the United States. Those solo shows and unpredictable tours taught her how to be flexible and resilient in art and in life. Shawna is a skilled guitarist, supporting her warm, clear voice with intricate fingerstyle accompaniment. This is music that makes an authentic human connection, that conveys a sense of closeness, of being understood, of feeling less alone.
Shawna’s latest album, Hurricane Coming, reveals a collection of songs that lie close to the heart, set against a backdrop of colourful and cinematic soundscapes, featuring a talented team of musicians who bring these rich sonic worlds to life. A story unravels – it begins with a breakdown, a vow to leave the past behind, then pauses for reflection, asks questions of trust, comfort, and belonging, follows the search for strands of gold, to conversations with old flames, through the swell of confidence that comes in the course of healing, and ultimately, to the acceptance of love and moving forward.
Hurricane Coming was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Album of the Year and an Ontario Folk Music Award for Album of the Year, and Shawna’s songs have won awards from Folk Music Ontario and the Songwriters’ Association of Washington. She strives to tell the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable, to empower listeners to come to terms with the parts of themselves and the world that they might find scary, and to look for hope in the dark.
