This turns out to be the season of Mahler's Ninth around here.

Hajime Teri Murai, the Peabody Conservatory's music director of orchestras, challenges the students with a Mahler symphony just about every year, and challenges don't get much tougher than No. 9 — or more rewarding (technically, mentally, emotionally). Murai last conducted the Ninth at the school in 2001; he returns to the autumnal score this week with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. Judging by Murai's affinity for the composer, and the caliber of the students I've heard in the Peabody Symphony this year, it ought to be an effective performance. The concert is at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are a bargain: $5 to $15.

Unexpectedly, audiences will have a rare opportunity to delve into the profound issues of Mahler's Ninth twice in two months. Marin Alsop was to have led the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the composer's Sixth, but the extra musicians it required caused second thoughts in these tough times, and the Ninth was substituted. Performances will be in early April.