Ben Baron

The New York Times praised Benjamin Baron’s performance with the Locrian Chamber Players for “having evoked sounds of nature” and recommended that audiences “listen for the lone clarinet” in the Encores production of The Light in the Piazza. The American Record Guide hailed him as soloist on the Naxos release by Chamber Orchestra of New York for “clean, incisive clarinet playing” and the New York Sun said his Messiaen Quatuor pour la fin du temps was “played with reverence". Following a performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto the Sioux City Journal called him a player of “great emotion, skill, and intensity”. Enjoying a career as performer, educator and author, highlights include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, and Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Baron served as Principal Clarinet of the Chamber Orchestra of New York, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas (Sony Classical), New York Symphonic Ensemble with numerous solo appearances of Mozart and Weber concerti throughout tours of Japan, and the Broadway revival of Leonard Bernstein’s On The Town (P.S. Classics). Additional Broadway productions include Sweeney Todd, Parade, The King and I, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, My Fair Lady, The Great Comet of 1812, and Mary Poppins. Baron has been guest principal clarinetist with the American Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, New York City Opera Orchestra and Orchestra Lumos, among many others in the New York City area. The Westchester Philharmonic also featured him as soloist for Paquito D’Rivera’s Danzón as did the New Haven Symphony for John Williams’ Victor's Tale. He appears regularly with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York Pops, American Composer’s Orchestra, American Ballet Theater Orchestra, and Orchestra Lumos.

As a chamber musician, Baron toured Europe with the London Winds playing the Serenades of Richard Strauss and Mozart’s Gran Partita. He was soloist for Lisa Bielawa’s Chance Encounters with The Knights Chamber Orchestra (Orange Mountain Music), and bass clarinetist for the world premiere of Gilad Cohen’s wind sextet, The Last Battle of King Sorrow, at Carnegie Hall with DeCoda. The American Symphony Orchestra featured Baron on Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet as did the Westchester Philharmonic for Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds with Jeremy Denk. He has collaborated with Argento Chamber Ensemble, Either/Or Ensemble, Ensemble Connect, and the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Baron’s first book, The Audition Method for Clarinet, Volume 1, originally written as his thesis, was released by GIA Publications in 2014. Along with his co-author Mark Nuccio, Volume 2 was released at the 77th Annual Midwest Clinic in 2023. This innovative method has been expanded into a series for additional orchestral instruments. The Audition Method for Violin with David Kim, Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was released in 2022. Additional versions are currently in production.

Currently teaching at Montclair State University and serving as the Woodwind Department Coordinator, Baron previously taught at Lehman College and was in residence at New York University with the Quintet of the Americas. He has been a guest at many schools, often facilitated through his Artist/Clinician relationships with Buffet Crampon Clarinets and D’Addario Reeds.

Baron earned his doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music and received additional degrees from Yale University, Arizona State University, and the Royal Conservatory of Belgium which was funded through a fellowship from the Belgian - American Educational Foundation. His primary teachers were Mark Nuccio, David Shifrin, David Krakauer, Robert Spring, and Eddy Vanoosthuyse.

Originally from Sioux City, Iowa, Ben currently resides in a suburb of New York City with his wife and two daughters.