Gary Sperl
Biography
Gary Sperl is in his 38th season as a clarinetist in the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the newly formed Knoxville Symphony Woodwind Quintet. He also was on the faculty of the School of Music at The University of Tennessee for 36 years. During the summers, he was very active in music festivals including the Spoleto Festival USA, Festival dei due Mundi (Italy), Assisi Performing Arts Festival, and is still the Principal Clarinetist with the Bear Valley (California) Music Festival.
Gary is currently a board member and teacher in a non-government organization called Clarinets for Conservation. The mission of C4C is to teach young Tanzanian secondary school students the value of a unique resource to this region of Africa, the Mpingo tree: the African Hardwood tree that clarinets are made from. In addition to teaching clarinet to these young students, hundreds of Mpingo seedlings are planted each summer. Outside of music, Mr. Sperl enjoys fitness activities such as running marathons. To date, he has completed 17 marathons and 4 Full Ironman Triathlons (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run).