Music

A joyful, musical holiday show for everyone — whatever you celebrate.

From klezmerized Christmas classics to brand-new Hanukkah tunes, enjoy Schmaltz & Pepper’s signature blend of virtuosity, laughter, and heart in a festive concert that celebrates all traditions —with a dollop of schmaltz.

El Sistema Aeolian Fall Concert

October 23rd, 6:30pm

First-St. Andrews United Church

350 Queens Ave.

Free Admission, Donations Accepted

His latest live show, Dark Purple Slice features his trademark dark humor with a warm human heart at the center. It premiered last year in Calgary in a run of 3 shows at One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo. The show, which includes plenty of Bruce’s trademark musical comedy, launches alongside a new record.

Bruce McCulloch, an Albertan punk and son of a salesman, grew up playing hockey, listening to rock music and fist-fighting cowboys. He took business at Mount Royal College and when he predictably got 20% he segued to journalism and started writing funny stories. He soon found himself at Loose Moose Theatre: home of theatre sports (competitive improv), where he met Mark McKinney, and his future was set. They started writing and performing together, later moving to Toronto to “make it.” In Toronto, he and Mark found the other members of The Kids in the Hall, and Bruce built the foundations for a career spanning television, theatre, and film.

In television, Bruce has written and performed in Young Drunk Punk (a series inspired by his own life), Death Comes to Town, and This Blows (web series) all for CBC, and he also created Carpoolers for ABC. He has directed such shows as SNL (on which wh was also a writer), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Schitt’s Creek, and Trailer Park Boys. Most recently, Bruce directed and produced three seasons of the sketch series, TallBoyz, for CBC. He also wrote and starred in a new season of the Kids in the Hall for Amazon in 2022.

As an actor, he has appeared in numerous Canadian and American television shows such as Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Gilmore Girls, Comedy Bang Bang, Workaholics, Nobodies, and even Anne of Green Gables.

Bruce has written or performed several one-man shows including Two-Headed Roommate, Jazz Stenographers, Slightly Bigger, and is currently performing his fourth show Tales of Bravery & Stupidity. He has two spoken word/comedy/music CDs: Shame-based Man and The Drunk Baby Project. He is currently recording his next comedy album, Dark Purple Slice. 

Tales will be the basis for his next book. His first book, Let's Start a Riot was released by Harper Collins. Bruce has also contributed to The Moth and has written for The New York Times and Huffington Post.

Bruce has also written and/or directed several films including Dog Park starring Luke Wilson, Superstar starring Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell, Stealing Harvard starring Jason Lee, Leslie Mann and Tom Green, and Comeback Season starring Ray Liotta.

Featuring a blend of acoustic instruments, rural soundscapes, and wistful vocals, Great Lake Swimmers are a critically acclaimed indie-folk group led by Tony Dekker. Based in Southern Ontario, the group emerged in the early 2000s with a succession of heavily atmospheric albums recorded in old silos and rural country churches. The music developed in that pastoral warmth, performed and recorded in acoustically resonant and historical locales with a revolving cast of personnel. They are renowned for homespun folk and lush, intimate Americana in their live shows. 

Their newest album, Caught Light, out Oct 10, 2025, is their most immediate and instinctive album to date. Recorded in just five days in Ontario’s Ganaraska Forest with producer Darcy Yates (Bahamas) and engineer Jimmy Bowskill (Blue Rodeo), it draws warmth from early ’70s folk-pop while embracing a new spontaneity and directness in Dekker’s songwriting. 

Great Lake Swimmers have been shortlisted for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize and nominated twice for Canada’s Juno Awards, with the CBC calling them “a national treasure.” 

“A stunning variety of tones and textures… nothing less than both cerebral and sublime” – American Songwriter, 4/5 

“It floats from country to folk to indie rock and back again… a sharp-toothed but achingly beautiful portrait of the natural world and the human condition.” – New Noise Magazine

“Dekker’s preoccupation with the Canadian state of mind flourishes in his lyrics. Few songwriters are able to convey the country’s harsh beauty as well. …Canadian folk tradition personified in the 21st century” – Exclaim!

John D. Huston An actor of Métis heritage, John’s career has largely involved “culturally misappropriating the works and identities of dead white guys,” playing Tommy Douglas in Saskatchewan, Shakespeare in England, William Lyon MacKenzie in Toronto & Dickens throughout Canada. He was therefore delighted to play Louis Riel for the 50th anniversary production of The Trial of Louis Riel, Canada’s longest running dramatic presentation. John has also appeared in a well-review production on Canada’s Residential Schools: Civilised.

This year marks John’s 34th anniversary touring Dickens’ solo version of A Christmas Carol, a show he has performed over 750 times since 1992 at venues across Canada including The National Arts Centre, Theatre Passe Muraille & Ottawa’s Gladstone Theatre. In 2017, he was nominated as Best Actor for the 2016 theatre season by Ottawa’s Capital Critics’ Circle for his run of A Christmas Carol at Ottawa’s Gladstone Theatre.

“This play glows with the joy of storytelling and Huston is a masterful narrator.” —Robert Enright CBC Radio Winnipeg

“Huston took the greatest care in making real people out of each of the 25…characters…you’ll be haunted if you miss it.” —Saskatoon Star-Phoenix

“I loved this production and urge all to see it.” —The Ottawa Sun

Justin Adams, guitarist, producer and composer, has been a creator of wonders with Robert Plant in the Sensational Space Shifters. His production on landmark albums by Tinariwen and Rachid Taha highlights his feel for North African groove, while his award-winning collaborations with Juldeh Camara linked griot tradition with raw blues spirit. His work with artists such as Jah Wobble and Sinead O’Connor was infused with the spirit of post-punk London, while his solo guitar album “Ribbons” was cited by Songlines magazine among the top 50 albums of the past decade.

This collaboration with Mauro Durante stems from a concert led by Ludovico Einaudi, the legendary Notte de Taranta in Puglia, where the two first played together, recognising kindred spirits in the trance rhythms of Taranta which transcend “melancolia” or the blues. Mauro Durante toured the world for many years with Ludovico Einaudi playing violin and frame drums. He is one of the leading players in the pizzica style of Southern Italy and leads Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, who have played great festivals all over the world. Last year they were featured in their own concert at the BBC Proms (where Justin Adams guested with them) and they won Best Group in the Songlines Music Awards.

The duo won Songlines magazine’s Best Fusion Artist award in 2022. Their 2024 CD titled “Sweet Release” was chosen as one of the best albums of 2024 by Songlines, il giornale della musica, Corriere del Mezzogiorno , Blogfoolk, Globofonie, Izvorišta, World Music Charts Europe, Transglobal World Music Chart, World Music Central, Podwireless – Local Music From Out There and many others.

Tom Wilson | TEHÅHÀHAKE

Tom Wilson is a Canadian musician, author and visual artist. Wilson’s memoir, Beautiful Scars published by Penguin/Random House has become a national bestseller. The memoir has been adapted into a TVO Original documentary (directed by Shane Belcourt). More recently, Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius completed a successful run of Beautiful Scars, the musical adapted to the stage in collaboration with actor /writer Shaun Smyth. Exposing incredible truths about Wilson’s biological family and Indigenous heritage, Beautiful Scars delves into the singer-songwriter’s lifetime quest to find himself and ultimately uncover his true identity as a Mohawk man.

“Over the course of discovering my true identity, the intention of my writing, my music and my art is to reduce the gap between my indigenous culture and colonialists to make a more patient, loving community. ” – Tom Wilson

Tom Wilson's extensive career and tireless efforts as a musician has bestowed upon him numerous nominations and awards from the Hamilton Music Awards to the Polaris Prize to the Juno Awards, including certified gold and platinum records. His songwriting has seen his works recorded by and with artists such as; Sarah McLachlan, City and Colour, Jason Isbell, Colin James, Lucinda Williams, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mavis Staples, The Rankin Family, as well as his own bands Junkhouse, the Canadian treasure: Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and the Clinton Street collective: Lee Harvey Osmond band awarded a 2020 Juno Award for the album “Mohawk”.

After the success of his exhibit at the Art Gallery of Burlington Beautiful Scars: Mohawk Warriors, Hunters and Chiefs, Tom’s paintings are now on display in various galleries across Canada, including successful shows at Toronto’s Cultural Goods Gallery and Tom Beckett Fine Art in Hamilton. His powerful installation piece Fading Memories of Home explores the systemic erasure of Indigenous culture in residential schools. Portrayinga colonial classroom, the exhibit includes nine rebuilt residential school desks with photographs of children’s families inside. As you move further in the rows, the images disappear representing the loss of identities, family, culture, and language.

In January 2024, New Brunswick book publishers, Goose Lane Editions released the Mohawk Warriors, Hunters and Chiefs The Art Of Tom Wilson Tehoháhake.

In 2020, Tom established the Tom Wilson Indigenous Bursary in Honour of Bunny Wilson at McMaster University, supporting year one indigenous students from Ontario secondary schools completing an undergraduate program in any faculty.

Wilson was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Canada in June 2023, with this citation:

For his multifaceted contributions to the arts in Canada, notably as an iconic musician, as well as for his advocacy of Indigenous communities in Canada.

Through his melodies, paintings, and words, Wilson invokes ancestral wisdom while addressing pressing issues of our time. His artistry serves as a bridge between past and present, inviting reflection and dialogue on the complexities of Indigenous identity and resilience.

THOMAS CUNNINGHAM WILSON was born June 9th, 1959 in Hamilton Ontario. He was raised in Hamilton by his adoptive parents, Bunny and George Wilson. In December 2021, Tom was officially added to the KAHNAWÀ:KE KANIEN'KEHÁ:KA REGISTRY as per KANIEN'KEHÁ:KA OF KAHNAWÀ:KE LAW.

Multiple Award-winning singer/songwriter and producer, Sarah MacDougall, is known for her poetic songs and passionate performances. Sarah mixes folk, pop, and rock elements into her infectious, often epic songs. Born in Sweden, now based in Canada, Swedish magazine Nöjesguiden declared her: “one of Sweden’s best singer/songwriters' and Rootstime Belgium described her as 'One of the greatest talents of our era”. Sarah has played festivals such as Iceland Airwaves, Edmonton Folk Festival, Reeperbahn, and has shared the stage with artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Tallest Man on Earth, Buffy St. Marie, Passenger, and more. Her most recent release, ‘All The Hours I Have Left To Tell You Anything’ is a record about strength, identity, death, the breakdown of relationships, birth, and the ghosts we honor and carry throughout. It was written during the death of her grandparents, the birth of her niece, and a break-up. The nine songs are also influenced by the places that made her and changed her: the dark beauty of Scandinavia the vastness of the Canadian North. Sarah is working on new music, with a new single ‘Blanket Skies’, set to be released in October 2025.

TUNES@NOON at the Aeolian is supported with thanks to The Paul Seed Fund through London Community Foundation and is a London UNESCO City of Music project.

Under the vibrant city lights of London lives a soulful spirit whose voice and message never fail to captivate. Saveria, an R&B, Soul-Pop singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer, pours her roots and energy into every note, both on and off stage. Known for effortlessly blending genres, her powerful vocals soar over rich, soulful instrumentation, delivering pitch-perfect belts that continue to defy expectations. Saveria has shared the stage with acclaimed artists like Alanis Morissette, Tegan and Sara, Lu Kala, Shay Lia, TOBi, and Scott Helman.

With over two decades of professional experience, her music has reached audiences across Canada and the U.S., climbing to #3 on the iTunes Canada charts and gaining viral recognition with over 6 million views on her American Idol audition, earning praise from Katy Perry and Carrie Underwood. In the summer of 2023, Saveria opened for Canadian legend Alanis Morissette, and released her debut 15-track LP, Mosaic, that October. Saveria is preparing to release her next music project in the first quarter of 2026.

TUNES@NOON at the Aeolian is supported with thanks to The Paul Seed Fund through London Community Foundation and is a London UNESCO City of Music project.

In 2003, Tom Dunphy and his wife, Tara, founded The Rizdales to express their appreciation for classic country music. The band quickly established itself as one of Canada’s leading roots music groups, releasing seven critically acclaimed albums, including their latest, 2018’s Lucky Enough. The Rizdales also collaborated regularly with Wanda Jackson, the Queen of Rockabilly, serving as her backing band during her Canadian appearances. Currently, as Tara Dunphy continues to perform with her Celtic-inspired ensemble Maggie’s Wake, Tom Dunphy has embarked on a solo career with his recently released debut album Everything Was New. While this new work maintains elements of his foundational influences, it also demonstrates a willingness to experiment outside of the parameters typically found in The Rizdales’ releases. Everything Was New showcases Tom Dunphy’s evolving artistry and commitment to reaching audiences both within Canada and internationally who appreciate classic country music.

TUNES@NOON at the Aeolian is supported with thanks to The Paul Seed Fund through London Community Foundation and is a London UNESCO City of Music project.