Ben Baron
Clarinetist Ben Baron enjoys a diverse career that includes solo, chamber, and orchestral performance. He has also played on Broadway and with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Performances throughout North America and Europe have included appearing as soloist with the New Haven Symphony, Koninklijk Conservatorium Orchestra (Belgium), One World Symphony (New York), the National Youth Chorus in Avery Fisher Hall, and this past summer in a conductorless appearance with the Lehman Concert Artists.
His performance of Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps was acclaimed by the New York Sun, "Clarinetist Benjamin Baron played his solo clarinet movement with reverence; he was patient one second and quixotic the next." Chamber music highlights include a European tour with the London Winds, Verbier Festival Academy (Switzerland), Music Festival of the Hamptons, Delft Festival (Holland), and as guest artist of the Birnberg Chamber Music Series (Minneapolis) and the Sioux City Chamber Music Society. He has recently performed with the Knights Ensemble and The Academy, as well having given recitals at Bruno Walter Auditorium in the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center and at New York's Yamaha Center. Other venues include Barge Music, Weill Hall, Zankel Hall, New York Historical Society, Miller Theatre, Merkin Hall, Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, and the Mayflower Barn in London. Mr. Baron has recorded for commercials, film scores, and video games as well as being in the Robert DeNiro movie The Good Shepherd.
Mr. Baron has appeared with countless orchestras in and around New York City. He has served as guest principal clarinetist with the New Haven Symphony since 2004 and was the bass clarinetist for the Berkshire Symphony’s 2007 - 2008 season. He has also been the principal clarinetist of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas since its inception in 2004. This past summer, Mr. Baron was an acting member of the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra and also performed with American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House. Other orchestras include the Belgian Radio Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Opera, Di Capo Opera, and the AIMS Opera Festival in Austria. He has performed in Carnegie, Alice Tully, Town Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Palacio de las Bellas Artes (Mexico City), and Palais du Beaux Arts (Brussels), and under such conductors as Gerard Schwartz, Yoel Levi, Constantine Orbelian, Colin Metters, and Kurt Masur.
Devoted to the performance of new music, Mr. Baron has appeared on the Princeton Composer's Series, performed with ensembles such as New Julliard and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and he has been a featured soloist with Tactus and the Claremont Ensemble. Also involved in educating young musicians, Mr. Baron is on the faculty of the Lyric Chamber Music Society and has taught within both the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College of Music pre-college divisions. He has been a guest teacher at Louisiana State University, Williams College, and Sarah Lawrence College. Mr. Baron was a teaching assistant at Yale University and he recently joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music Summer Camp.
Currently a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Baron has received degrees from Yale University, Arizona State University, and the Koninklijk Conservatorium of Belgium where he studied on behalf of a grant from the Belgian American Educational Foundation. Mr. Baron studied with David Krakauer, David Shifrin, Robert Spring, Mark Nuccio and Eddy Vanoosthuyse. He also worked extensively with Wenzel Fuchs, Michael Collins, Richard Hawkins, and Ricardo Morales.
