Pat Posey

Saxophonist Pat Posey also plays the clarinet and the tubax (a reshaped contrabass saxophone) and is an arts administrator and educator. He is noted for his collaborative work and for a commitment to contemporary music. Posey was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1978. He grew up in Woodbridge, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Posey attended Louisiana State University, earning a bachelor's degree, and went on to the University of Michigan for a master's, studying saxophone there with Donald Sinta. From the beginning, a substantial portion of his work was devoted to arts administration. Posey served as Assistant Orchestra Librarian, Personnel Manager, and Orchestra Manager at the Juilliard School in New York in the early 2000s and was elevated to Director of Orchestral Activities and Planning in 2007. He remained at Juilliard until 2012, also holding positions at the Stamford Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut, New York's Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Brevard Music Center in Florida, and in 2010 and 2011, he was also Director of Artistic Operations for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, based in Sydney, Australia. Posey went on to become Vice President of Artistic Planning and Educational Programs of the Music Academy of the West from 2012 to 2018. Posey has appeared with both conventional symphony orchestras and more experimental contemporary music groups. His orchestral credits include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, among other groups. Posey has performed in John Adams' City Noir with the Juilliard Orchestra (under the composer's baton) and at the BBC Proms. He has appeared with the contemporary music group Wild Up and recorded with the group on a volume of its set of recordings devoted to composer Julius Eastman. He is also a co-founder of the Los Angeles Reed Quintet and a member of Le Train Bleu, and he has collaborated with several world music artists. Posey appeared with saxophonist Nadia Shpachenko on the album Lewis Spratlan: Invasion in 2022, and the following year, he released the album they/beast on the Avie label, playing the tubax, a modified contrabass saxophone that he has championed.
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