Victorian Opera's Artistic Director Richard Mills Will Depart In 2023

Richard Mills AM has announced he will step down as the Artistic Director of Victorian Opera at the conclusion of the state opera company's 2023 season.

The distinguished composer and conductor has overseen a period of significant growth for Victorian Opera and continued the company's commitment to commissioning new Australian opera.

Renowned for his body of orchestral works, Helpmann Award-winning operas Batavia and Love of the Nightingale, and re-orchestrating the ABC's iconic news theme, Mills commenced his tenure with Victorian Opera in 2013 following his previous position as the Artistic Director of West Australian Opera from 1997 - 2012.

Since 2013, Mills has commissioned 21 new Australian operas including celebrated Green Room Award-winning works such as The Riders and Lorelei. He recently commissioned and conducted the world premiere of Deborah Cheetham's First Nations opera Parrwang Lifts the Sky in a collaboration with Short Black Opera.

During Richard Mills' tenure, Victorian Opera was invited to join fellow state opera companies in the National Performing Arts Partnership Program after being recognised for its unique contributions to Australia's operatic landscape and its high artistic standards.

Highlights of Mills' legacy include:

• Establishing ties with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra to present opera in Tasmania annually with notable performances in Hobart and Launceston, as well as Melbourne.
  
• Hugely popular cycles of Stephen Sondheim musicals, as well as concerts of Bellini's major operas headlined by internationally acclaimed artists and conducted by Mills.
  
• Nurturing an important artistic relationship with celebrated Australian soprano Jessica Pratt with her Australian debut in 2014 and many subsequent performances.
  
• Major collaborations with New Zealand Opera, Circus Oz, and Musica Viva as well exploring the incorporation of 3D digital scenery in performances.
  
• Returning opera to the Palais Theatre, St Kilda after a long absence from the iconic venue. Since 2015, Victorian Opera has staged seven productions there including an acclaimed production of Strauss' Salome in February 2020.
  
• Forming the Victorian Opera Youth Chorus Ensemble (VOYCE) in 2014. VOYCE offers weekly professional training for classically focussed young singers aged 13 - 19.
  
• Major community and regional engagement projects, including new operas The Magic Pudding, Remembrance, The Snow Queen, and The Pied Piper.

• A substantial commitment to the development of orchestral talent via collaborations with the Australian Youth Orchestra on notable productions of Wagner's Parsifal and The Flying Dutchman, as well as a collaboration with the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) Orchestra on Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande.

Victorian Opera will now commence an extensive search for a new Artistic Director to join the company in 2023 and program its 2024 season.

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