Jonathan mills composer biography dvd

Australian composer and festival director (born )

Sir Jonathan MillsAC FRSE (born 21 March ) is an Australian composer and festival director.

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He was born and raised in Sydney and has dual Australian and UK citizenship. His work includes operas, an oratorio, a ballet, song cycles, concertos, and chamber music.^[1] He has directed a number of arts festivals in Australia, and from to he was director of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Biography

Jonathan Edward Harland Mills was born in Sydney on 21 March ^[2] He has Scottish roots, his maternal grandfather having been a Scot from Partick,^[3] and he has dual Australian and British citizenship.

His father Frank Harland Mills was a heart surgeon.^[4]

He gained a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Sydney in ,^[1][2] where he was connected with St Paul's College.^[5] He studied under Peter Sculthorpe.^[6]

Mills was a research fellow and composer-in-residence at RMIT University, Melbourne, between and He graduated as Master of Architecture at RMIT in , focusing on acoustic style and the role of sound in the built environment.^[2] Between and he was an adjunct professor at RMIT.^[1][7]

Between and he was the artistic director of music festivals in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

These included the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Melbourne Federation Festival, the Melbourne Millennium Eve Celebrations, and the Brisbane Biennial International Music Festival (inaugural artistic adviser –97).^[1][2][7]

It was during these years that he composed Four First Songs, a song cycle for radio on poems by Martin Harrison, and the ballet The Ethereal Eye, which focussed on the architects who designed and built Canberra as the new capital of Australia.^[1] In came his first chamber opera, The Ghost Wife, to a libretto by Dorothy Porter based on the brief story The Chosen Vessel by Barbara Baynton,^[8] set in the Australian bush at the commencing of the twentieth century.^[1] The opera was premiered at the Melbourne Festival and had numerous productions in other capitals.

It had its London premiere at the Barbican Theatre in November , staged by OzOpera, under conductor Richard Gill. This was believed to be the first Australian opera with an Australian cast to have a London season.^[8]

In he wrote Sandakan Threnody, an oratorio for tenor, choir, and orchestra.

He was born and raised in Sydney and has dual Australian and UK citizenship. His work includes operasan oratorioa balletsong cycles, concertosand chamber music. His father Frank Harland Mills was a heart surgeon. He gained a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Sydney in[ 1 ] [ 2 ] where he was associated with St Paul's College.

It is based on the real-life story of the 2, Australian and British prisoners of war who in were sent on a series of death marches from the Japanese camp in Sandakan, Borneo – only six would live. It was revised and premiered as part of Sydney Symphony Orchestra's "Meet the Music" series at the Sydney Opera Dwelling, and was later performed at the Singapore, Brisbane and Melbourne Festivals.

In it was awarded the Prix Italia.^[1][6] Mills' father Frank Mills survived incarceration at Sandakan.^[4]

In came Mills' chamber opera The Eternity Man, commissioned as a Genesis Foundation Prize by Almeida/Aldeburgh Opera and premiered in London in July that year.^[1] It was based on the life of Arthur Stace.

Mills revised it in , and in Julien Templefilmed it for television with broadcasts by Channel 4 in and ABC Television in and funded by them.

Musician and composer Jonathan Mills returned to College in January and had the opportunity to visit the Waddy Centre during its construction. Jonathan was in College in and during his BMus at Sydney University he studied under Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe AO OBE.

The clip of The Eternity Man won various awards, including Best Experimental Film at Australia's ATOM Awards, the Judges Award for Leading Work of the Year at the Queensland Australian Cinematography Awards and the Swiss Rose d'Or ().^[1][9]

His opera Eucalyptus, to a libretto by Meredith Oakes based on the novel by Murray Bail, premiered in a concert performance conducted by Tahu Matheson at the Perth Festival in ; later that year, it was performed staged at the Brisbane Festival and in Melbourne.^[10]

He was Vice-Chancellor's (Professorial) Fellow at the University of Melbourne, director of the Alfred Deakin Lectures and an artistic advisor to the Melbourne Recital Centre (including Elisabeth Murdoch Hall).

In he was appointed director and main person executive of the Edinburgh International Festival. His term was twice extended, and concluded at the end of ^[11]

In he was appointed international artistic adviser of the Arts Centre Melbourne till the end of , in addition to his existing commitments in Edinburgh.^[12] He divides his time between Edinburgh and Melbourne.^[13][14]

Honours

In Jonathan Mills was awarded the Centenary Medal.^[15]

In he was named an honorary doctor of the University of Stirling.^[16]

In he was appointed fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In the Australian Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), "for distinguished service to the performing arts as a composer and director of international festivals, through the promotion of cultural exchange, and to public debate".^[17]

He was knighted in the UK Queen's Birthday Honours of ^[11][18][19]

He was appointed a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by the French Minister of Tradition in He was awarded the Medal for Merit to Society – Gloria Artis (Zasłużony Kulturze – Gloria Artis) of the Republic of Poland in

In was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the University of St Andrews,^[1] and an honorary doctorate of arts by RMIT University.^[7]

He is also an honorary doctor of the University of Edinburgh.^[20]

He was awarded an honorary doctorate of music by the University of Sydney in

In the King's Birthday Honours list, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), "for eminent service to international cultural leadership and diplomacy, to the performing arts, to philanthropic ventures, and to tertiary education".^[21]

Personal life

In March Mills entered into a civil partnership with his partner of seven years, Ben Divall, whom he had met in Melbourne.^[13]

References