RamÓn Wodkowski

For more than 25 years, Ramón Wodkowski has devoted his career to the design, manufacture and refinement of clarinet mouthpieces.  His handcrafted mouthpieces, together with his refacing and restoration services, are trusted by many professional musicians, teachers and students worldwide.

Ramón has travelled extensively throughout North America, Europe, and beyond, working directly with musicians from the world’s leading orchestras, opera houses, conservatories and universities.  This close collaboration with artists from  diverse musical traditions has given him a rare perspective on the many musical voices of the clarinet world.

BACKGROUND

A native of Michigan, Ramón graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy before earning his bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and master’s degree from the Yale University School of Music.

In 2004 he moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music (RCM), where he earned the Artist Diploma, won the prestigious Frederick Thurston Prize, and was subsequently awarded the 2005-2006 David Bowerman Junior Fellowship at the RCM.

Ramón’s principal teachers have included Richard Hosford, Franklin Cohen, David Shifrin, Ted Oien and Richard Hawkins.

While at the RCM, Ramón began freelance work with the major London orchestras, and cultivated a diverse playing career over the next 15 years – symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, recording sessions, and West End shows. He was one of the few American clarinetists to have broken through into the London orchestral scene, and remained very active until his return to the USA in 2019.

Ramón has had a fascination with clarinet mouthpieces since first learning the instrument and began exploring the craft during his graduate studies in the United States. It was during this time that he studied privately with James Kanter and Everett Matson.

Upon moving to London, however, he put his tools aside to concentrate on establishing himself as a professional clarinettist. He took them up again upon entering the playing profession, in search of a mouthpiece that better reflected his own playing voice. What began as a hobby soon attracted the interest of his teachers and their colleagues, eventually growing into a second career alongside his life as a professional player before becoming his principal profession.

Ramón has performed with ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Irish Chamber Orchestra, English National Ballet and City of London Sinfonia – with conductors including Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Oliver Knussen, Heinz Holliger and Semyon Bychkov – at venues including the Royal Albert Hall (BBC Proms), Salzburg Mozarteum, Barbican Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Ramón returned to the United States in 2019, where he resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan and maintains his workshop, serving professional professional musicians,, teachers and students throughout the world.