Clarinetist Benjamin Baron enjoys a wide-ranging career as a performer, educator, and author. The New York Times praised his performance with the Locrian Chamber Players for “having evoked sounds of nature” and encouraged audiences to “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, released on the Naxos label, was praised by American Record Guide for its “clean, incisive clarinet playing,” while the New York Sun described his performance of Messiaen’s 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.”

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A member of the American Symphony Orchestra, Baron made his Carnegie Hall solo debut performing Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto to a sold-out audience in Weill Hall. He has performed with the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and served as guest principal clarinet with the American Composers Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, New York City Opera Orchestra, and Orchestra Lumos. The Westchester Philharmonic also featured him as soloist in Paquito D’Rivera’s Danzón, as did the New Haven Symphony in John Williams’ Victor’s Tale. Additional orchestral highlights include performances with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York Pops, American Ballet Theater Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Brussels Philharmonic. Baron has also performed throughout Japan playing the concertos of Mozart and Weber, including Suntory Hall in Tokyo. 

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Director of the Montclair Wind Quintet, Baron was previously a member of the Quintet of the Americas which was affiliated with New York University. He has toured Europe with the London Winds playing the serenades of Strauss and Mozart, and performed Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds with Jeremy Denk. He was a soloist in both performance and the Orange Mountain Music recording of Lisa Bielawa’s Chance Encounters with The Knights, and was bass clarinetist for the world premiere of Gilad Cohen’s sextet The Last Battle of King Sorrow at Carnegie Hall with Decoda. The Westchester Philharmonic featured him in performances of the Mozart and Brahms clarinet quintets, as well as the Beethoven and Brahms trios, as did the American Symphony Orchestra for Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet. Additional chamber music collaborations include the Argento Chamber Ensemble, Either/Or Ensemble, Ensemble Connect, and the International Contemporary Ensemble.

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Baron has performed in Broadway productions of Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, My Fair Lady, King and I, Parade, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, The Great Comet of 1812, Mary Poppins, and most notably as Principal and E-flat Clarinet for the revival of Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town and the critically acclaimed cast album. He has performed, recorded or premiered pieces with such artists as Philip Glass, Herbert Blomstedt, Thomas Hampson, Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Carlos Santana, Gloria Estefan, John Legend, Josh Groban, Sara Bareilles, Father John Misty, and was a featured soloist for Joe Hishaishi’s sold out concerts at Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden.

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Author of The Audition Method for Clarinet, Volumes 1 and 2 with GIA Publications, The Clarinet Journal wrote that 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 concluded that “they are a lasting contribution to our literature…destined to appear on every clarinet student’s stand.” The success of these volumes has led to an expanded series with The Audition Method for Violin by David Kim, The Audition Method for Flute, Volumes 1 and 2 by Joshua Smith, The Audition Method for Bassoon by Catherine van Handel set for release in 2026, along with additional versions in production. 

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Currently on the clarinet faculty at Montclair State University, Baron previously taught as Adjunct Associate Professor at CUNY–Lehman College. He has been a guest at many schools, often supported through his artist relationships with Buffet Crampon Clarinets and D’Addario Reeds. Baron earned his doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music and also holds degrees from Yale University, Arizona State University, and the Royal Conservatory of Belgium, where his studies were supported by a fellowship from the Belgian-American Educational Foundation. His principal teachers were David Shifrin, Mark Nuccio, David Krakauer, Robert Spring, and Eddy Vanoosthuyse.

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