Gustav Mahler

We’re once again thinking of our brethren in the city, not least because we’ll be spending the afternoon and evening (and night) with our bumper gently kissing that of the car ahead of us as we slowly move toward Manhattan. Those wishing to celebrate Memorial Day—that Monday of freedom that means summer is here, though we hardly registered spring—can check out Alan Gilbert, conductor of the Philharmonic, leading a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9. It’s at St. John the Divine, all the way Uptown. That’s far enough that if you sit on the Pulpit Green outside to listen to the music, you can pretend you’re at Tanglewood, without the $14 arugula-and-aioli sandwiches!

Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, 8pm, open to all; information can be found at nyphil.org.