Naomi Berrill is an Irish cellist, singer and composer, currently based in Florence. After completing her classical studies in Scotland, Italy and Switzerland, Naomi began experimenting and developing the use of cello as an accompanying instrument to the voice. She rearranges and composes original works for voice and cello.
Naomi has a unique way of working with music from different genres and eras and using this as inspiration to create new material that is original and challenging. She also plays guitar, piano and concertina.
She has released three albums to date, ‘From the Ground’ (Lampi,2015) ‘To the Sky’ (Egea,2017) and ‘Suite Dreams’ (Warner Music, 2020). Her first two albums have been re-released in Japan under the label Nature Bliss. Naomi’s work is published by Casa Musicale Sonzogno, Italian publishers founded in 1874 who have worked with artists such as Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni and contemporary ones like Giovanni Sollima.
She has collaborated with cellists Giovanni Sollima, Mario Brunello, The Crash Ensemble, Arvo Part, Bill Viola, Stefano Benni and many contemporary dance and theatre groups including Virgilio Sieni and New York City Ballet.
Riverdance composer Bill Whelan has composed an original work for her for voice and cello.
She has performed in Europe at both classical and jazz music festivals and venues such as: Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Music for Galway, Suoni delle Dolomiti, Festival dei Due Mondi (Spoleto), Trame Sonore (Mantova), Uffizi Galleries (Florence), Spike Cello Festival (Dublin), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Filarmonica Romana, Biennale Danza and Biennale Architettura (Venice)
She has recently developed ‘Dragonfly Duo’ with renowned classical violist Danusha Waskiewicz. Both musicians play and sing, working four part harmony arrangements of baroque and classical repertoire. Dragonfly has opened the 2022 edition of the Trame Sonore chamber music festival in Mantova.
She is artistic director of the festival ‘ High Notes’, a multi-genre festival which takes place in the Apuane Alps, founded in 2010. Her upcoming album ‘Inish’ is a collaboration with young Italian producer/musician Lorenzo Pellegrini (HandLogic).