Richard Mills

Richard John Mills AMcite web
url = http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=869879&showInd=true
title = Australian Honours
accessdate = 2007-10-23
publisher = Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet] , DMus BA(Hons) "Qld" [cite web
url = http://www.uq.edu.au/senate/index.html?page=23383
title = Senate Meeting Summary
accessdate = 2007-10-23
date = 10 October 2002
publisher = The University of Queensland] , (born 14 November 1949) is an Australian conductor and composer.

He currently works as Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera and Artistic Consultant with Orchestra Victoria. He was commissioned by the Victorian State Opera to write his opera "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" and by Opera Australia to write the opera "Batavia".

In 1988, to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) commissioned Mills to re-orchestrate Charles Williams's "Majestic Fanfare", the signature tune of ABC news and television broadcasts, in a more modern, Australian idiom.

Honours

He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1991.

He received the "Green Room Award" in 2001 and 2002, and the "Helpmann Award" in 2002 for his opera "Batavia", in 2006 for his conducting of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde", and in 2007 for Best Musical Direction of his opera "Love of the Nightingale". He also received the "Ian Potter Foundation Award for Established Composers".

Mills was Musica Viva Australia's feature composer for 2008.

Works

Works for the stage

* "Snugglepot and Cuddlepie" (1987), Ballet
* "Earth Poem / Sky Poem" (1993), a music theatre work for Aboriginal dancers and musicians, orchestra and electronic sounds
* "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" (1996), opera in two acts, libretto by Peter Goldsworthy after the play by Ray Lawler
* "Batavia" (2001), opera in three acts, libretto by Peter Goldsworthy
* "The Love of the Nightingale" (2007), opera in two acts, libretto by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Vocal and choral works

* "Festival Folk Songs" (1985) for mezzo-soprano, tenor, boy soprano, large mixed chorus, children's chorus, 2 brass choirs (optional) and orchestra
* "Sappho Monologues" (1991) for soprano and orchestra, texts after Sappho, edited by the composer
* "Symphonic Poems" (2001), setting of David Campbell and James McAuley poems for soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass, large mixed chorus, 3 brass bands
* "The Little Mermaid" (2005) for children's chorus, narrator, orchestra; text after Hans Christian Andersen
* "Four Antiphons of the Blessed Virgin" (September 2, 2005, at the [http://www.veniceinperil.org/projects/pastprojects/ospedaletto.htm Ospedaletto] , Venice) for tenor and organ
* "Songlines of the Heart's Desire" (2007), commissioned by the Ian Potter Trust, to poems by an anonymous fourth century Chinese poet, Bengali Rabindranath Tagore, American Kenneth Patchen, French Tunisian Amina Said, and Australians John Shaw Neilson and Judith Wright. [Musica Viva Concerts 2008 Program for Cheryl Barker, Peter Coleman-Wright and Piers Lane]

Concertos

* "Trumpet Concerto" (1982) for trumpet and orchestra
* "Soundscapes for Percussion and Orchestra" (1983) for percussion solo and orchestra
* "Fantastic Pantomimes" (1987) for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet and orchestra
* "Cello Concerto" (1990) for cello and orchestra
* "Flute Concerto" (1990) for flute and orchestra
* "Violin Concerto" (1992) for violin and orchestra
* "Concerto for Violin and Viola" (1993) for violin and viola solo and chamber orchestra
* "Double Concerto" (2002) for violin and clarinet

=Chamber works=

* "Sonata for Brass Quintet" (1985)
* "String Quartet No. 1" (1990)
* "Four Miniatures" (1992) for violin, clarinet and piano
* "Here where death and life are met" (no year) for high voice and piano, text by Judith Wright
* "Requiem Diptych for Brass Quintet" (1997)
* "Songs without Words" (1998) from the poems of Ern Malley for oboe and string quartet
* "Jamaican Entertainment" (2002) arrangements of music by Arthur Benjamin for flute, clarinet, soprano and piano, see: "Two Jamaican Pieces").
* "A Little Diary" (2002) for clarinet and string quartet
* "Woman to Man" (2004) song cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano, text by Judith Wright
* "String Quartet Nr. 2" (2007)

=Instrumental works=

* "Epithalamium" (1985) for solo organ
* "Pastoral for Solo Oboe" (1931)
* "Six Preludes for Solo Oboe" (1991)

Educational works

* "Little Suite for Orchestra" (1983) for student orchestra
* "Miniatures and Refrains" (1986) for student string quartet
* "Sonatina for String Quartet" (1986) for student string quartet

References

External links

* [http://www.richardmills.com.au/ Composer's home page]
* [http://www.amcoz.com.au/composers/composer.asp?id=50 Biography at Australian Music Centre]