Hailed in the Los Angeles 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 (LACO) and principal clarinet of the New West Symphony. He has also been a member of the Pacific Symphony since 1997, serving as acting principal clarinet for two seasons from 2014-2016.

As a soloist, Ranz has performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto on basset clarinet as well as the Copland Clarinet Concerto, both with LACO. On LACO’s 2008 European tour, Ranz was featured prominently with mezzo-soprano 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.

Ranz was a member of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, California for over 10 seasons, serving as principal clarinet in the summer of 2011. He also performed as principal at the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene, Oregon, for the Bay Chamber Concerts in Maine on a series with a roster of all principal wind players from top orchestras around the country and most recently at the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Festival last summer. He performed with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in western New York for eight summers.

As a chamber musician, Ranz has performed with Chamber Music Palisades, Capitol Ensemble, South Bay Chamber Music Society, Jacaranda and numerous other chamber music programs throughout Southern California. This past April, Ranz was featured performing the Mozart and Brahms Quintets as part of the “In Focus” series with LACO in Pasadena and Santa Monica. In addition to his performances, Ranz has recorded with LACO and the Pacific Symphony and is active in the television and motion picture industry. Ranz has also played on over 150 soundtracks for such composers as John Williams, Michael Giacchino, James Horner, Randy Newman, Alan Silvestri, Jerry Goldsmith, Alexander Desplat and many others. Some of the recent films he has played on include Coco, Lady Bird, Downsizing, A Wrinkle in Time, Star Wars VII and Rogue One, The Incredibles 2 and Ready Player One. He also performs regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Before moving to Los Angeles in 1999, Ranz was a member of the Honolulu and San Jose symphonies. He was a fellow and a faculty member of the Aspen Music School and Festival and a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival.

Ranz is very excited to join the UCLA School of Music this fall as Lecturer in Clarinet. Ranz has been the studio artist instructor for clarinet at the Biola Conservatory of Music for over a decade. He also previously taught at Pomona College and Long Beach City College. Originally from New York, Ranz 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.

Ranz and his wife, oboist Leslie Resnick, have two sons, Jonah, born in October 2006, and Nathan, born in November 2009.