Mitchell was born in London on 6 February 1925, and educated at
Brightlands Preparatory School and
Dulwich College, London. In 1943 he registered as a
conscientious objector and his war-time service was spent in the
Non-Combatant Corps. After the war, he taught at
Oakfield Preparatory School, London and in 1947 founded and edited the journal
Music Survey; several issues appeared before he was joined in 1949 by
Hans Keller and the journal was re-launched in the Music Survey's so-called 'New Series' (1949–52), whose uncompromising critical standards and pugnaciously pro-Britten and pro-Schoenberg stance brought it renown and notoriety in equal measure. Mitchell studied at
Durham University 1949–50. In the 1950s he was a regular contributor to the journals
Musical Times and
Musical Opinion. In 1958 he became editor of Music Books at
Faber and Faber and in the same year was appointed Editor of
Boosey & Hawkes's music journal
Tempo, until 1962. From 1963 to 1964 he was a special music adviser at Boosey & Hawkes with particular responsibility for contemporary music and the acquisition of contemporary composers. He was responsible for
Peter Maxwell Davies and
Nicholas Maw joining the publisher's list. In 1965, with the encouragement of Benjamin Britten he founded the music-publishing firm of
Faber Music, and was its first managing director (vice-chairman, 1976, chairman, 1977, president, 1988–95). In 1972 Mitchell became the first Professor of Music at
Sussex University (until 1976). Following the death of Benjamin Britten, he became a senior trustee of the
Britten-Pears Foundation; in 1986 he became the Foundation's director and chairman of the Britten Estate Ltd. From 1989 to 1992 he was chairman of the
Performing Right Society. He was appointed a CBE in the
2000 New Year Honours, and died on 28 September 2017, at the age of 92. == Mahler and Britten ==