“Poteat’s new work in three contiguous sections is extremely accomplished and vividly picturesque, with a wide palette of tonal colors and lots of contrasts”
-Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times, September 2023
Breathe, Come Together, Embrace
“This engaging, restless piece reflects both the environs of Seattle and the music of Pearl Jam.”
-Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, May 2014
Much Difference
“The three movements are serious and nicely crafted, with an atmosphere appropriate to the work’s program. It has some convincing expressive power.”
-Allen Gimbel, American Record Guide, March 2012
A Perspective
. . .
Angelique Poteat is a Pacific Northwest composer and clarinetist whose music has received performances on four continents by ensembles including the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Formosa Quartet, Emerald City Music, and Trio Claviola. Heavily influenced by her surroundings, nature and the Puget Sound area, her genre-crossing music has been programmed alongside both classical and popular music legends, including Mike McCready, Chris Cornell, and members of Mad Season. Poteat has served as Artist-in-Residence with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and was the Director of the Seattle Symphony Young Composers Workshop for three years. She is the recipient of a 2025 Commission from the Library of Congress’ Koussevitzky Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2015 American Prize in Orchestral Composition for her composition Beyond Much Difference, and has been recognized by the ISB David Walter Composition Competition for her work Pacificus. Poteat has had projects with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Youth Symphony supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, received grants from Seattle 4Culture, Artist Trust, and the Allied Arts Foundation, and was a 2023 and 2015 CityArtist from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Poteat released her first solo album of compositions, “Six Seasons,” in January 2024, and is currently working on pieces for Northwest Sinfonietta and the Sunriver Music Festival.
As a clarinetist, Poteat enjoys performing a wide variety of genres, from orchestral to new music for the bass clarinet. She has appeared as a soloist with the North Corner Chamber Orchestra, Saratoga Orchestra, and Yakima Symphony Orchestra, of which she is Principal Clarinetist, and can frequently be heard playing chamber music all over the Pacific Northwest. Poteat also performs with the Seattle Modern Orchestra and Northwest Sinfonietta, and performs on occasion with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Opera, and Emerald City Music, among many other groups. She is a regular in the Sunriver Music Festival, and also performs in the Bellingham Festival of Music.
Poteat earned the degrees Bachelor of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and Master of Music from the College-Conservatory of Music. She has studied composition with Samuel Adler, Joel Hoffman, Mara Helmuth, Anthony Brandt, Pierre Jalbert, Shih-Hui Chen, Arthur Gottschalk, and Samuel Jones. She studied clarinet with Michael Webster at Rice University and Laura DeLuca of the Seattle Symphony, and bass clarinet with Ronald Aufmann of the Cincinnati Symphony.
On the side, Poteat is a hiker, climber, cyclist, DIYer, and an overall lover of nature.
Angelique Poteat 