Classique

Naomi Sullivan

Naomi Sullivan

Naomi Sullivan lives and works as a freelance saxophonist in London. She has been Head of Saxophone at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire since 2008.

After studies in Manchester (Chetham's School of Music), London (Royal College of Music) and Evanston (Northwestern University, Chicago), she performed in the UK as part of the Countess of Muster Recital Scheme, Park Lane Group and ‘Live Music Now!’ 

As a chamber musician, Naomi has been part of several groups – including Paragon Saxophone Quartet, Zephirus Quartet and most recently with Flotilla, lead by Kyle Horch.

As an orchestral musician, Naomi has worked for a number of UK orchestras including Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, The Opera Group, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Orchestra of the Swan and Music Theatre Wales and most recently with Chineke.

She is currently performing with Sounding Cities (www.soundingcities.com) - a collaborative project that uses audio/visual arts to explore the environment in which we live. Sounding Cities works with composers and visual artists to devise performances inspired by responses to our urban surroundings - questioning how we experience contemporary music and how music and art can mirror our fast changing cities. 

In 2009, at the World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, Naomi co-founded syzygy, with the aim to perform established contemporary works alongside promoting new music for saxophone quartet. syzygy has played at Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham, as part of the Frontiers + Andriessen Festival, where they performed Louis Andriessen’s Facing Death, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Purcell Room as part of the Park Lane Group Young Artists Series and 'Proud', Camden. In 2014, with support from Help Musician's UK, C.A.S.S and the many kind supporters of a Kickstarter project, syzygy released a debut recording of David Maslanka's Songs for the Coming Day.

In September 2007 Naomi started teaching at Birmingham Conservatoire. She has given master classes at a number of institutes including the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music, Chetham's School of Music, Well's Cathedral School, the Purcell School, the 2017 Andorra SaxFest, the Royal Conservatoires of Antwerp, Brussels, Ferrara, Fermo, Lucerne and Amsterdam (Long live Erasmus). She has taught at the Purcell School, City of London School, Hindhead Summer Course, and for various saxophone days in the UK.