Knoxville Symphony to premiere horn player’s work

In Sunday’s (2/22) Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), Harold Duckett notes how rare it is to hear a Knoxville composer’s work premiered. “But Knoxville composer William Mark Harrell’s ‘Time Like An Ever Flowing Stream,’ commissioned by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, will be heard for the first time on Thursday, Feb. 26 at the Tennessee Theatre. Harrell has played horn in the symphony since 1983, except for a period of advanced horn studies in Boston. … The title of Harrell’s new composition comes from a verse in an old Southern hymn. ‘I adore the hymns of the Southern church,’ he said. ‘But there’s not a quote from the tune in this piece.’ … Born and raised in Lake City in Anderson County and a self-taught composer, Harrell is using pieces of hymns in an opera he is writing about events of the Civil War era.” Portions of that work have been performed by the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Thursday’s Knoxville Symphony program, led by music director Lucas Richman, is rounded out by the music of Brahms.