Damián S. Posse, born in 1985 in León, Spain, is a Vienna-based double bassist, researcher, music educator, and cultural manager. His career spans over 1,500 performances in more than 50 countries, combining solo, chamber, and orchestral music with teaching, academic research, and cultural management.
He began his double bass studies at the age of eight with Prof. Jesús Méndez at the Conservatorio de Música de León and later completed his Master of Arts with distinction at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Salamanca under Ruth Alonso. In 2008, he was admitted to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna for postgraduate studies with Prof. Alois Posch. His training was complemented by masterclasses with leading double bass soloists, including members of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Munich Philharmonic.
As a musician, Damián has shared the stage with internationally renowned soloists such as Robert Holl, Andreas Ottensamer, Christoph Hartmann, and Anneleen Lenaerts. From 2014 to 2016, he was a member of the Ensemble Berlin of the Berlin Philharmonic. Since 2017, he has been a permanent member of the baroque orchestra Concilium musicum Wien and the string quintet Wiener Kammersymphonie. In the field of contemporary music, he is active as a performer with Neue Oper Wien, the XXI. Jahrhundert Ensemble, and Reconsil.
In music education, Damián has led masterclasses and conferences across Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Since 2016, he has served as a tutor at Superar Vienna, specialising in music education for students with special needs and disadvantaged backgrounds. He taught at the Barenboim-Said Foundation in Ramallah (2019–2022), at the Chamber Music Festival in Durrës (2020–2023), and has been a professor of double bass and didactics at the Vienna Beethoven Institute since 2023. In the same year, he was appointed visiting lecturer at the University of the Aegean in Greece.
His academic career includes a second master's degree in music education from the Universidad de A Coruña (2021, with distinction) and a doctoral thesis at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, with the defence scheduled for 2026. His research focuses on the universalisation of learning methods for music education, with publications in Peter Lang, Scopus, and Visual Review.
In cultural management, Damián has served as orchestra manager for institutions such as the Ossiach Orchestra Academy, Festival Kitsee, Operavia, and the New Cosmos Philharmonic. Since 2022, he has led the coordination and administration of the Podium Festival and #Musikbefreit. He is co-founder of the digital concert platform www.konzertsaal.at and operates the photo studio www.dpossephotography.com.