Pat Posey (born 1978) is an American musician, educator, and administrator. He is active as a saxophonist, clarinetist, and tubaxist.
Posey was born in Columbus, Ohio and grew up in Woodbridge, Virginia. He attended Louisiana State University, earning a Bachelor of Music degree, and the University of Michigan, earning a Master of Music degree.[1] While at Michigan, he was a saxophone student of Donald Sinta.[2]
Posey performs often as a saxophonist with orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony,[3] Los Angeles Philharmonic,[4] and Santa Barbara Symphony.[5] He has also performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra[6] and the New World Symphony[7] and is principal saxophonist of the San Bernardino Symphony.[8] In 2011 he performed at Carnegie Hall as guest saxophonist with the Juilliard Orchestra and composer John Adams conducting his work City Noir.[9] In 2012 he performed this work again with Adams at Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms.[10]
Posey performed as soloist in John Adams' Saxophone Concerto with the Redlands Symphony conducted by Ransom Wilson in October 2022.[11] He has also appeared as a soloist in Germany and Russia. His debut album they/beast, the first streamable album featuring solo tubax, was released by Avie Records in 2023.[12]
In 2023 Posey performed as baritone saxophonist with Wild Up in the premiere performance of Patrick Shiroishi's Gosenzo for saxophone quartet.[13] He appears playing saxophones and tubax on the Grammy-nominated third volume of the group's Julius Eastman anthology,[14] and tubax on the soundtrack to written by Jongnic Bontemps.[15] He appears as alto saxophonist in the world premiere of Lewis Spratlin's Invasion with pianist Nadia Shpachenko.[16] In 2021-2022 he performed multiple soprano and baritone saxophone parts on world premiere recordings Psalms and Canticles[17] and Time[18] by Michael Torke. In 2019 he performed in the world premiere performance of Sean Shepherd's Sonate á 5 with Jorja Fleezanis, Karen Dreyfus, Alan Stepansky, and Conor Hanick.[19] He is a regular collaborator with Rahim AlHaj, and has performed with sitarist Shujaat Hussain Khan and tabla player Yogesh Samsi.[20]
Posey is a member of Le Train Bleu and a founding member of the Los Angeles Reed Quintet (LARQ).[21] [22] He is a Conn-Selmer Performing Artist.[23]
Posey served as Director of Orchestral Activities and Planning at The Juilliard School from 2007 to 2012, after having held the positions of Assistant Orchestra Librarian, Personnel Manager, and Orchestra Manager in the years prior. He concurrently held administrative positions at the Stamford Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Lukes, Brevard Music Center, and the Aspen Music Festival and School, and in 2010-11 he was Director of Artistic Operations for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra project in Sydney, Australia.
In September, 2012 he was appointed as Vice President of Artistic Planning and Educational Programs of the Music Academy of the West.[24] He was selected from a field of over 70 applicants following a four-month international search. At the Music Academy hew oversaw all artistic matters including the creation of a composer residency program that brought nearly 20 living composers to the summer festival over two years, and led the conception and implementation of partnerships with the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra. He left the Music Academy in 2018.[25]
Posey was a Visiting assistant professor of Saxophone at the University of New Mexico. He has also been a member of the performance faculty at the University of Windsor and at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.[26]
Posey is queer.[27]