Performance Bio

Naomi Reilly Robinson is an Australian/British piccolo and flute player, committed to celebrating new music and bringing music of different cultures to the stage. Naomi moved to Manchester in 2021 to complete her Masters of Music Performance & Music Psychology at the Royal Northern College of Music. She also completed a Post Graduate Diploma: Advanced Studies in the Flute and was the first person in the UK to complete a Post Graduate Diploma: Advanced Studies in the Piccolo at the RNCM. During her time at the RNCM Naomi studied with Kevin Gowland (Flute), Jennifer Hutchinson (Piccolo), Cormac Henry (Flute) and Janet Richardson (Piccolo).

During her studies Naomi was fortunate enough to perform with the Orchestra of Opera North, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Naomi currently enjoys a freelance career having freelanced with orchestras across the North West of England and was a founding member of the Azalea Wind Quintet, The Azalea Wind Quintet were finalists in the 2022 & 2023 Fewkes Chamber Music Prizes.

Passionate about diversifying western classical music as we know it, Naomi regularly works on premiering new compositions with local composers. Naomi is a co-director of The Plus Project a LGBTQIA+ performing ensemble that comissions and performs new works by local composers and collaborates with queer artists based in the North West. The Plus Project have been funded in 2025 by the Manchester Pride Superbia Queer Arts Grant.

Naomi believes in championing the piccolo as an often misunderstood and underappreciated instrument. Naomi fell in love with playing the piccolo during her post graduate studies and has been pursuading others to be passionate about the piccolo ever since. Naomi was one of three RNCM 2024 Concerto Competition winners and performed Paul Stanhope’s Piccolo Concerto (an Australian work) with symphony orchestra. Naomi also performs free contemporary improvisation as a soloist and in chamber groups as she believes in the freedom of ‘live composition on the stage’. Naomi delivers workshops and classes on the piccolo and improvisation in the UK and internationally.

Naomi completed her undergraduate degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music learning from James Kortum and graduated with Honours in 2018. During this time she traveled overseas to perform with the National Orchestra of Samoa. She also holds an interest in music research after completing three dissertations during her studies on the subject of practice motivation and music education in low socio economic areas.

Naomi has a long history of contributing to music education in Australia and the U.K. and further afield. Naomi has been teaching flute, directing ensembles and managing music programs in a variety of settings for over 10 years. You can read more about her teaching experience on her teaching bio.