Les AMIS Concerts, opens its 19th season Saturday, October 6th at the Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. with an all Brahms program featuring Allyson McHardy, mezzo-soprano, Terence Tam, violin; Barry Shiffman, viola; Shauna Rolston, cello and Yuval Fichman, piano.  The program includes Two Songs Op. 91, Klavierstucke Op. 119, and Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor Op. 60.  Guest composer Jonathan Berger of Stanford University, will present the original 1889 wax cylinder recording of Brahms’ piano performance of part of his First Hungarian Dance as well as the de-noised version of the segment and the transcription and reconstruction of the entire piece, which Berger believes “is a pretty good approximation of how Brahms would have played the piece.”

The second concert this fall features brilliant young cellist Rachel Mercer performing Brahms’ F major Sonata, Shostakovich’s Sonata Op, 40 and Canadian composer Gary Kulesha’s "...and dark time flowed by her like a river..."  Rachel will be accompanied by well-known Toronto pianist Lydia Wong. The concert will take place at the Heliconian Hall on Sunday, December 16th.