Clarinetist Benjamin Baron enjoys a career as performer, educator, and author. The New York Times praised his 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. His solo recording for the Chamber Orchestra of New York and released by Naxos was lauded by American Record Guide for “clean, incisive clarinet playing, while The New York Sun described his Messiaen Quatuor pour la fin du temps as “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”.
Baron has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and made his Carnegie Hall solo debut playing Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto to a sold-out audience in Weill Hall. He has been guest principal clarinet with the American Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, New York City Opera Orchestra, and Orchestra Lumos. 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. Additional highlights include performances with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Composer’s Orchestra, New York Pops, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Brussels Philharmonic. Baron has toured Europe with the London Winds and throughout Japan playing the concertos of Mozart and Weber including Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He has performed on nearly a dozen Broadway productions, most notably serving as Principal and E-flat Clarinetist for the revival of Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town and the critically acclaimed cast album.
An avid chamber musician, Baron is the clarinetist for the Montclair Wind Quintet and was previously a member of the Quintet of the Americas which was in residence at New York University. He has played the Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds with Jeremy Denk, and was a soloist in performance and Orange Mountain Music recording of Lisa Bielawa’s Chance Encounters with The Knights. The Westchester Philharmonic featured him playing the Mozart and Brahms clarinet quintets, as well as the trios of Beethoven and Brahms. He also performed Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet as part of the American Symphony Orchestra’s chamber music series, and was bass clarinetist for the world premiere of Gilad Cohen’s wind sextet, The Last Battle of King Sorrow, at Carnegie Hall with DeCoda. He has collaborated with Argento Chamber Ensemble, Either/Or Ensemble, Ensemble Connect, and the International Contemporary Ensemble.
Baron has written two books for GIA Publications, The Audition Method for Clarinet, Volumes 1 and 2. According to The Clarinet Journal, these books “offer a systematic approach to the standard repertoire and to the audition process itself”, “collect, demystify, and put onto the printed page many of the concepts and tricks of the trade”, and concludes that “they are a lasting contribution to our literature…destined to appear on every clarinet student’s stand.” Their success has led to an expansion into a series for more orchestral instruments, with the release of The Audition Method for Violin with David Kim, along with versions for flute, bassoon, and trombone expected in the coming year.
Currently on the faculty of Montclair State University and serving as Woodwind Department Coordinator, Baron previously taught as Adjunct Associate Professor at CUNY – Lehman College. He has been a guest at many schools, often facilitated through his artist relationships with Buffet Crampon Clarinets and D’Addario Reeds. Baron earned his doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music, also receiving 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.
Originally from Sioux City, Iowa, Ben currently resides in a suburb of New York City with his wife and two daughters.
