Welcome to the official website of composer Joshua William Mills, a self-described postmodern mystic. Here you may find information about him, his compositions, his performance activities, and other fascinating material. Check back every few weeks or so for new developments or catalogued works.
N. B. – This page has officially moved to www.joshuawilliammills.com. You should be redirected there automatically. This site will cease to be current as of 5 June 2007.
9 June – Josh will perform the second of Schoenberg's Drie Klavier Stücke (op. 11 no. 2) at Barbara Kornbluh's piano studio recital in Pittsgrove, NJ as an alumnus. The recital will be at 3pm at the Pittsgrove Township Middle School.
4 June – After much time and preparation, this website has moved. It now has greater space, bandwidth, flexibility, and its own domain.
11 May – Josh sang for the last time as a member of the Houghton College Choir at the Baccalaureate service for the Houghton College class of 2007.
27 April – The Houghton College Philharmonia performed their final concert of the semester, performing Verdi's Nabucco Overture, Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite, and Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3 ‘Organ Symphony’.
20 April – The Houghton College Symphonic Winds performed their spring concert, including the successful première of Josh's Pax Vobis, the winner of the first Houghton College Symphonic Band Composition Competition. Also on the program was percussionist Matthew Teodori performing Musser's Scherzo Caprice for solo marimba and symphonic band. Other works on the program included compositions by Tichelli, Hijleh, Copland, Bernstein, and others.
18 April – The Clarinet Quartet performed Alfred Uhl's delightful Divertimento on a student chamber music recital. The clarinet quartet (Sarah Bucklew (clarinet I), Daniel Wartinger (clarinet II), Katherine Cogdill (clarinet III), and Joshua Mills (bass clarinet)) is coached by Jun Qian.
16 April – Houghton masters of music composition student Paul Compton gave his senior recital, with Josh performing on two pieces: Three Prayers for tenor (Don Schuessler), clarinet, and piano (Paul Compton), and Bagatelle for double bass quartet (Jesse Stevenson, Joshua Mills, Paul Compton, and Brian Donat).
12 April – The Peabody Conservatory of Music has accepted Josh into their Masters of Music Composition program. There he will study with composer Nicholas Maw.
14 & 15 April – The Southern Tier Symphony played their final concert series of its 2006-2007 season, and Josh's last concert series with the orchestra. The program, entitled Pictures, included Couperin's Overture and Allegro from La Sultane, Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme with Julie Albers, cello, and the Ravel orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Both performances were very well received.
9 April – The ACDA Choral Journal has published in their April 2007 issue (vol. 47, no 10) my essay The Responsibility of the Choral Conductor to the Emerging Composer.
29 March – 8 April – The Houghton College Choir under the direction of Brandon Johnson went on their 75th Anniversary Tour of the Mid-Atlantic states with the final home concert on April 13. Highlights from the performance repertoire includes Ralph Vaughan Williams: Kyrie and Gloria from the Mass in g minor, Heinrich Schütz: Ich bin die Auferstehung und das Leben, Brandon Johnson: I Believe, Antonio Lotti: Crucifixus, Eric Whitacre:; Lux Aurumque, Alberto Grau: Kassar Mie La Gaji,Frank Martin: Santus from the Mass for Double Choir, and Samuel Barber: Agnus Dei (Op. 11, Adagio for Strings choral transcription).
10 & 11 March – The Southern Tier Symphony played their ‘Celebrations’ concert with guest soloist and former Houghton College faculty member, violinist Lin He, playing Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, opus 28. Other works on the program include Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Tower's Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, PDQ Bach's Fanfare for the Common Cold, and Sibelius' Finlandia.
3 March – The recording of the première of Lamb of God for SATB choir and piano has finally been made available and may be heard here.
23 February – 2 March – The Houghton College Symphonic Winds completed their spring tour of the northeast, performing in locations including Orchard Park, NY, Bethlehem, PA, Staten Island, NY, and Beverly Falls, MA. The tour was quite sucessful.
21 February – The first movement of Fragment of an Angel was performed in a student composers' recital at Houghton College by Susannah Smith, soprano, and Charis Diamantopoulos, piano.
18 February – The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robert Franz read Holy Sonnet XIX as part of the Young Composers' Forum. (In the photo, from left to right, are Roc Lee, Robert Franz, Joshua William Mills, John Corigliano, Jennifer Bellor, and Paolo Cavallone.) John Corigliano was present and the readings and described the piece as “Beautiful. Beautiful.”
16 February – The Houghton Philharmonia performs their first concert of the semester, including the winners of the concerto competition: Ben Hoffman (playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3), Kirstie Chen (Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22), and Geoff Anikienko (Ney Rosauro's Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra).
9 February – The Houghton College Symphonic Winds performed their first concert of the semester including works by Hijleh, Holsinger, and Ives.
7 February – The judging committee for the first Houghton College Symphonic Band Composition Competition announced the winning composition: Josh's Pax Vobis. The Houghton Symphonic Winds will premiere the piece on 20 April. The runner up was Robert Summers Potterton III's España, which will be performed at some point in the 2007-2008 academic year.
13 December – I was named TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for 2006. It was surprising and required a second look on my part, but when all was said and done, the headline still clearly told me: ‘Time's Person of the Year: You’. A momentous honor indeed.
20 November – All Things New: Joshua William Mills in Senior Composition Recital. Works included Lamb of God for SATB choir and piano (the composer conducting, and Robert Speicher, piano), Sonata for piano (Charis Diamantopoulos), Pastorale for violon, clarinet, and violoncello (Clara Giebel, Sarah Bucklew, and Brian Donat, respectively), movements I, III, V, and VI from Six Meditations (the composer, double bass, and Charis Diamantopoulos, piano), and For the Love of God (the composer, clarinet, and Robert Speicher, piano). The recital was a remarkable success.
For everything you ever wanted to know about the fascinating life of Maestro Mills, you should visit the Biographical Information page. Actually, this won't tell you everything you ever wanted to know, but it is a start for those of you not fortunate enough to actually know him.
The Catalogue of Works page lists all compositions to date, not including compostitional and theoretical exercises. You may also find further descriptions of several of his works here.
Not contented with merely writing and playing music, Josh often finds it necessary to rhapsodize on subjects of a more theoretical, philosophical, or theological nature. And naturally, he loves it when others even more impressed with their own intellects than he is with his do likewise. Thus Thoughts contains some of his musings as well as material by others which he thinks interesting.
Links contains, not surprisingly, links to other web sites which the composer deems valuable, interesting, or perhaps simply entertaining.
F.A.Q. is where all your unanswered questions about the life and works of this singular individual remain as they are. And if this does not satisfy you, you may contact the man himself by means of the information provided here.
Weather is a no-frills page that gives easy access to the weather maps and data from the Weather Channel, the NOAA's National Weather Service, and Weather Underground. I created it for my own convenience (hence the focus on the Northeast and a few scattered locations therein), but perhaps a handful of others might also find it useful.
last AND FINAL! update – 5 June 2007
