Jonathan Edward Harland Mills was born in Sydney on 21 March 1963. He has Scottish roots, his maternal grandfather having been a Scot from
Partick. His father
Frank Harland Mills was a heart surgeon. He studied under
Peter Sculthorpe. Mills was a
research fellow and
composer-in-residence at
RMIT University, Melbourne, between 1992 and 1997. He graduated as Master of Architecture at RMIT in 1999, focusing on acoustic design and the role of sound in the built environment. In 2001 he wrote
Sandakan Threnody, an
oratorio for tenor, choir, and orchestra. It is based on the real-life story of the 2,345 Australian and British prisoners of war who in 1945 were sent on a series of
death marches from the Japanese camp in
Sandakan,
Borneo – only six would survive. It was revised and premiered as part of
Sydney Symphony Orchestra's 2004 "Meet the Music" series at the
Sydney Opera House, and was later performed at the Singapore, Brisbane and Melbourne Festivals. In 2005 it was awarded the
Prix Italia. In 2003 came Mills' chamber opera
The Eternity Man, commissioned as a Genesis Foundation Prize by Almeida/Aldeburgh Opera and premiered in London in July that year. His opera
Eucalyptus, to a libretto by
Meredith Oakes based on
the 1998 novel by
Murray Bail, premiered in a concert performance conducted by
Tahu Matheson at the
Perth Festival in 2024; later that year, it was performed staged at the
Brisbane Festival and in Melbourne. He was Vice-Chancellor's (Professorial) Fellow at the
University of Melbourne, director of the
Alfred Deakin Lectures and an artistic advisor to the
Melbourne Recital Centre (including
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall). In 2006 he was appointed director and chief executive of the
Edinburgh International Festival. His term was twice extended, and concluded at the end of 2014. In 2011 he was appointed international artistic adviser of the
Arts Centre Melbourne till the end of 2012, in addition to his existing commitments in Edinburgh. He divides his time between Edinburgh and Melbourne. ==Honours==