World Premiere: April 5, 2021
Most Recent HSO Performance: This is the HSO's first performance of this work.
Instrumentation: 1 flute, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon, 1 horn, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, and strings: violin I, violin II, viola, cello, and bass
Duration: 6'

Quinn Mason (b. 1996) is a composer and conductor based in Dallas, Texas. He currently serves as the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Joyce C. Willis Artist in Residence. He recently served as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Classical Roots composer in residence for 2022 (the youngest composer appointed to that role) and as KMFA's inaugural composer in residence. Quinn has been described as “a brilliant composer just barely in his 20s who seems to make waves wherever he goes.” (Theater Jones) and "One of the most sought after young composers in the country" (Texas Monthly).

His orchestral music has received performances by many renowned orchestras in the US, including the San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony, Utah Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of the United States (NYO-USA), New World Symphony, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, New England Conservatory Philharmonia, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Experiential Orchestra, Mesquite Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Symphony San Jose, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the River Oaks, Reno, Mission and Lowell chamber orchestras, youth orchestras of Los Angeles, Central Kentucky, Memphis, Omaha, Seattle and Dallas, Scotland's Nevis Ensemble, Italy's Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and numerous others.

Commissioned and premiered by the Washington and Lee University Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Christopher Dobbins, Mason writes that Immerse "is a study in texture and the blending/timbral quilaities of the different families of instruments with each other. A chorale is introduced early in the piece that is traded off between the different families, giving it a unique feel each time. A Messiaen-esque and mysterious chorale features in the middle section of the composition, which then builds to a sentimental climax. In the final section, the chorale is stated again but mournfully fades in the abyss."