Pencil This In

By Staff in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 15, 2011 6:25PM

Photo of Mahler in 1892, around the time he was working on his First Symphony

Classical Music

Tonight at 8 p.m., guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the first of three concerts concluding Mahler Month. The centerpiece of the program is Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. Though written during the happiest time in Mahler’s life - he was the director of the prestigious Vienna Court Opera, and his new bride Alma had just given birth to two daughters - the music is alternatively violent and mournful, with plenty of despair to go around. The hammer strikes in the final movement were inevitably associated with the three tragedies that befell Mahler one year after the symphony’s premiere: his forced departure from Vienna, his eldest daughter’s death, and the diagnosis of a heart condition that would eventually kill him. The world premiere of James Matheson’s Violin Concerto, composed in consultation with the CSO’s Baird Dodge, who will be the soloist, opens the concert. The program will be repeated tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $29.

Holiday Party

Our distinguished colleagues over at Gapers Block are hosting their annual Holiday Party at Black Rock. They'll have complimentary cocktails courtesy of FEW Spirits, Bluecoat Gin, Vieux Carre absinthe and Q Tonic. They'll be for a limited time, so get there early! Don't forget, Black Rock has a full kitchen and a great beer list, too! (3614 N. Damen, 7-10 p.m.)

Beer

The Local Option's final beer event of the year, "Ass Makeover," will feature a biblical draft list featuring over thirty rare and highly sought after beers from eight countries. In addition to exclusive Midwest releases from Evil Twin the Local Option La Petite Mort - a Belgian inspired Weissenbock brewed at Central Waters Brewing Co. in Amherst, WI - will be available. (1102 W. Webster, 3 p.m. - close.)