Richard Mills (composer)

Richard John Mills (born 14 November 1949) is an Australian conductor and composer. He was the artistic director of Victorian Opera from 2013 to 2023, and formerly artistic director of the West Australian Opera and artistic consultant with Orchestra Victoria. He was commissioned by the Victoria State Opera to write his opera Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1996) and by Opera Australia to write the opera Batavia (2001). Career Mills was born and grew up in Toowoomba, Queensland, and went to Nudgee College in Brisbane. He studied in London with Edmund Rubbra at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and worked as a percussionist in England and for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Mills started conducting and composing in the 1980s. On 5 June 2013, he withdrew from the Opera Australia Ring cycle. 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