• Joshua Ranz, clarinet

    Joshua Ranz, clarinet


    Hailed in the LA Times as offering a “stunning rendition” of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, and an “exciting” version of the Copland Clarinet Concerto, Joshua Ranz is principal clarinet of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In addition, he holds the chair of principal clarinet of the New West Symphony and also the position of bass clarinet with the Pacific Symphony.

    As principal of LACO, Mr. Ranz has performed concertos by Mozart, Copland and Strauss. On LACO’s 2008 European tour, Josh was featured prominently with mezzosoprano Vesselina Kasarova in performances of Mozart’s aria from the opera La Clemenza di Tito, “Parto, ma tu ben mio,” in LACO’s concerts in the Italian city of Treviso; Hanover, Hamburg and Berlin in Germany; and in Paris, France. He also served as acting principal on the Pacific Symphony’s European Tour in 2006 and numerous seasons the Pacific Symphony.

    Mr. Ranz has filled in as principal clarinet for the LA Opera and Hollywood Bowl orchestras, as well as the Pasadena and Santa Barbara symphonies, and has performed with the San Diego and Colorado symphonies. He also performs regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

    Mr. Ranz is also very active in chamber music, He plays regularly on LACO’s In Focus Series. He has performed with The New Hollywood String Quartet, Chamber Music Palisades, The South Bay Chamber Music Series, Jacaranda and numerous other chamber music programs throughout Southern California.

    In addition to his performances, Mr. Ranz is very active in the television and motion picture industry. Just recently, he was featured prominently playing clarinet in a klezmer style in the recent release of the film “An American Pickle” featuring Seth Rogen available on HBO MAX (the soundtrack is available on Spotify, Amazon and iTunes.) Mr. Ranz has also played on over 200 soundtracks for John Williams, James Horner, Randy Newman, Alan Silvestri, Jerry Goldsmith, Alexander Desplat and many others. Some of the films he has played on include Star Wars VII and IX, The Lego Movie 2, Toy Story IV, Men in Black, Ready Player One, Frozen 2.

    Ranz is also a very passionate instructor of the clarinet. He is on Faculty as Lecturer in Clarinet at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the Biola Conservatory of Music. Originally from New York, Josh attended Fiorella H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. He went on to receive his Bachelor’s degree at Harvard College, majoring in music composition and analysis. He then received his Master of Music at the Yale School of Music, where he studied with David Shifrin.Josh and his wife, oboist Lelie Resnick, have two sons, Jonah, born in October 2006, and Nathan, born in November 2009.