February 14, 2025
It was a blast working with the wonderful musicians of Milwaukee’s Present Music on a unique music-to-motion-picture presentation of Wu Tsang’s Moby Dick; or, The Whale. The score brought this beautiful film to life by imbuing traditional sea shanties with sparkling cinematic textures. Milwaukee concert-goers filled the house, making for a cozy Valentine’s Day evening.
October 20, 2024
The last movement of Debussy’s Ma Mère l’Oye stands alone as one of the most touching pieces of music ever written. I’m not taking questions at this time!
Such a blast working with the terrific musicians of the New Conductors Orchestra in New York this week. What a pleasure it was to share the podium with Luke Poeppel and the group’s remarkable director Mark Powell.
September 27, 2024
Hard to describe how moving the past two weeks were with the musicians of the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra. Between running rehearsals, leading chamber music coachings, and teaching fantastic young conductors at Williams, I also spent my off days admiring the fall foliage and visiting the Clark Institute.
The cherry on top was our unforgettable concert presenting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), and the final movements of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite for a packed Chapin Hall. Thank you to every musician who poured their heart into this performance.
May 5, 2024
A wonderful week rehearsing, collaborating and performing Courtney Bryan’s Syzygy with the International Contemporary Ensemble at the Bang on a Can Long Play Festival at Irondale. Syzygy featured a virtuosic solo for violin performed by the one and only Modney(whose fantastic album “Ascending Primes” came out this very week) Bryan’s chamber setting was inspired by the works of three artists: Alma Thomas, Frida Kahlo, and Maya Ying Lin. The composer writes, “Syzygy refers to the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (such as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system. The theme of eclipse is present in all of these works as are contrasts of lightness and darkness.”
April 22, 2024
Today, I completed my final academic requirement to receive my Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting at the Eastman School of Music. After years of intense coursework, concerts, recitals, capstone projects, a lecture-recital, a daunting 14-hour written exam and an oral exam, I can finally call myself Dr. Mills!
I’ve had the most unforgettable musical experiences at Eastman, most of which I owe to my conducting mentor and advisor, the incomparable Brad Lubman. It’s said that a great teacher will ensure that the rewards of music school outweigh the demands. Prof. Lubman got that ratio just right.
April 12, 2024
Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’” with the New Amsterdam Symphony! What a treasure it was working with this group of talented musicians, many of whom have been with the orchestra since its founding in 1976. We began the concert with the Mozart “Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor,” performed by the ineffable award-winning pianist Jonathan Mamora (who also is a good friend and fellow Eastman alum) .
(Broke my baton in the heat of the moment during the last movement of Eroica! Everyone’s been there at some point.)
january 16, 2024
There is nothing like performing some of your favorite music with the very musicians whose recordings set the standard for that music. This was the case working with the incomparable Alarm Will Sound on Steve Reich’s Radio Rewrite. I had AWS’s 2014 Nonesuch album on repeat through college, particularly while learning the work’s Piano 2 part (which I specifically requested for that raucous piano solo in Movement V) to be performed at an Eastman Musica Nova concert in 2019.
I was overjoyed to collaborate with Alan Pierson (pictured to the left) and beyond honored to lead his ensemble as their first guest conductor in the group’s history. Talk about a pinch-me moment.
October 27, 2023
My heart is so full after an awe-inspiring week cover conducting the New York Philharmonic! I had the pleasure of assisting my mentor & teacher Brad Lubman during his debut with a stacked concert of John Zorn, Layale Chaker, Kinan Azmeh, and Unsuk Chin for a packed David Geffen Hall. Still not convinced it wasn’t a dream.