MEET THE MUSICIANS

PRINCIPAL CLARINET BEN BARON

Clarinetist Ben Baron enjoys a diverse career of solo, chamber, and orchestral performance.  Appearances throughout North America and Europe have included solo engagements with the New Haven Symphony, Koninklijk Conservatorium Orchestra of Belgium, One World Symphony, National Youth Chorus in Avery Fisher Hall, Lehman Concert Artists, and an upcoming performance of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the Sioux City Symphony. Chamber music highlights have included a European tour with the London Winds, Verbier Festival Academy, Music Festival of the Hamptons, Delft Festival, Princeton Composers Series, and recent performances with The Knights, The Academy, and the International Contemporary Ensemble.  Mr. Baron has been the featured artist of the Sioux City Chamber Music Association and the Birnberg Chamber Music Series in Minneapolis. He has played such venues as Bargemusic, Weill Hall, Zankel Hall, Merkin Hall, 92nd Street Y, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Miller Theatre, Town Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Steinway Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Bachzaal in Amsterdam, and the Mayflower Barn in London.  Mr. Baron has received critical acclaim from The New York Sun, L’Orfeo Magazine, Des Moines Register, and the newspaper Reforma in Mexico City.

Mr. Baron has served as a guest principal clarinetist with the New Haven Symphony since 2004, and he was an acting member of the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra in 2008. Mr. Baron has been the principal clarinetist of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas since its inception in 2004, and a member of the Chamber Orchestra of New York since its debut in 2007. He served as bass clarinetist for the Berkshire Symphony’s 2007 – 2008 season. He has performed with the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera House, Belgian Radio Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Opera, Di Capo Opera, and the AIMS Opera Festival in Austria. Notable conductors have included Gerard Schwartz, Yoel Levi, Constantine Orbelian, and Kurt Masur. 

Mr. Baron can be heard in commercials, film scores, and video games. He played on the soundtrack for a children’s book with Wycliffe Gordon and made an appearance in the Robert DeNiro movie The Good Shepherd. Mr. Baron has performed on Broadway and played with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He is also active as a klezmer musician. Other highlights have included performing with Santana, Clark Terry, Maynard Ferguson, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, Patti LaBelle, Joshua Bell, Michael Collins, and Sam Pilafian.

Mr. Baron is on the faculty of the Lyric Chamber Music Society, helping to start an instrumental music program at the Harlem Day Charter School.  He is also on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music Summer Camp, and he was a teaching assistant while studying at Yale University. Mr. Baron has taught within the Manhattan School and the Mannes pre-college divisions. He has been a guest teacher at Louisiana State University, Williams College, and Sarah Lawrence College. Mr. Baron is currently a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music.