"Pat Posey is a dazzling figure of classical music…who oozes art from every pore” (Deutschlandfunk Radio). Hailed as “brilliantly stylish” by the New York Times and “edgy” by Gramophone, their debut solo album they/beast was called by BBC Music Magazine “a dazzling, unsettling spectacle by a musician pushing the creative envelope.”
Based in Los Angeles, they are principal saxophonist of the San Bernardino Symphony and have appeared frequently with orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony, Pacific Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. They have performed with the Violent Femmes and can be heard on recordings by Miley Cyrus and Primal Scream, as well as in soundtracks of Transformers and League of Legends.
Pat’s debut solo album they/beast, the first streamable solo album made on a tubax, was released on Avie Records in 2023 featuring music of JS Bach and Philip Glass as well as the debut recording of Shelley Washington’s Mo’ingus. BBC Music Magazine praised their own composition Hymn which closes the album as “fiendishly virtuosic...It’s rather like hearing Liszt play his early pyrotechnic works for the then newly invented piano...”
Over two decades Posey worked with Michael Tilson Thomas to create a baritone saxophone version of Thomas’ contrabassoon concerto Urban Legend, culminating in the work’s world premiere recording with Edwin Outwater conducting the San Francisco Symphony. Pat can be heard as tenor saxophonist in that orchestra’s recording of Prokofiev’s suites from Romeo and Juliet conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, and in a recording of the complete ballet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Pat has appeared as a soloist with the New World Symphony, performed with the Violent Femmes, and toured with Brendan Eder, as well as with Wild Up performing and recording music of Julius Eastman. Past highlights include engagements with the Chicago Symphony, Oregon Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, a solo performance at (le) poisson rouge in New York City, residencies in Germany and Russia, and appearances at the Lincoln Center Festival and the BBC Proms in London. Pat is a founding member of the Los Angeles Reed Quintet (LARQ) and of the performance collective Le Train Bleu, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall with composers John Adams, Thomas Adès, Peter Eötvös, and Michael Tilson Thomas leading concerts of their own works.
In addition to performing as a western classical musician, they collaborate with DJs and electronic music producers to create dance music and bring live saxophone performance to the dancefloor, appearing on dance tracks from Chinotto Records and BMG. As a longtime collaborator of Iraqi oud virtuoso Rahim Al Haj they created arrangements bringing oud together with string quartet and other western instruments, appearing in concerts across New Mexico and in Muscat, Oman, and have performed alongside Ugandan musician and presidential candidate Bobi Wine. They perform on an extensive collection of non-western wind instruments, including the rare North Korean double-reed instrument Jangsenap, and in 2009 performed as ocarina soloist with the YouTube Symphony in a livestream that has been viewed over 1.7 million times.