Penelope Mills

Soprano

Management: Australasian

Carmina Burana, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
“Mills was for her part radiant…This was a magnificent performance by Mills…”
Limelight Magazine, May 2021

A Sea Symphony, Sydney Philharmonia
“...Penelope Mills sang with a rich tone and a nice sense of the vocal line and managed a radiant entry from out the choral swell on Token of all brave captains”.
Limelight Magazine September 2016

The Tempest, Thomas Adès with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
“While the four extracts contained appealing lyrical stretches, particularly in a touching and dramatically satisfying duet for Toby Spence and Penelope Mills.”
The Age, April 2013

Trois poèmes de Stephane Mallarme, Australia Ensemble
“To start, Penelope Mills gave a beautifully poised and refined reading of Ravel's songs Trois poèmes de Stephane Mallarme. This was notable for her warmth of tone and clarity of diction and direction, and was well calculated to capture Ravel's delicate balance between the seductive and the elusive.”
The Sydney Morning Herald, April 2012

Idomeneo, Pinchgut Opera
“Elettra, sung by Penelope Mills, looked like she had walked in from another world, or perhaps just from another opera. Her cloak and Medusa-meets-Marilyn hair set her apart visually, and her heroic arias set her apart musically as her voice bloomed with dazzling colour and expression.”
The Sydney Morning Herald, December 2006

With a Master of Music in Operatic Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music (UK), and BMusEd (Hons) from the Sydney Conservatorium, soprano Penelope Mills performs extensively in both opera and on the concert platform with internationally renowned conductors and orchestras including the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, West Australian and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Sydney Chamber Choir, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Sydney Concert Orchestra, Sydney Soloists and the Australia Ensemble.

Some of her recent engagements include Mahler Symphony No 4 with the Australian Youth Orchestra in Melbourne and Bendigo; as the soloist for BBC Planet Earth II with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; La voix humaine; Handel Coronation Anthems, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Handel’s Saul, Mendelssohn Elijah, Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony and Israel in Egypt, all with the Sydney Philharmonia; Villa Lobos Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 with cellists of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; St Matthew Passion with Newcastle University Choir and in Sydney Town Hall; Messiah with St Andrew’s Cathedral; Creation with Sydney University Graduate Choir; Last Night of the Proms with Sydney Symphony; Elijah with Willoughby Symphony Orchestra and Choir; Carmina Burana at The Concourse; Bach Cantatas and Mozart Requiem at St Andrew’s Cathedral. Penelope also gave the world premiere performance of Carl Vine’s critically acclaimed, “Wonders” at the Sydney Opera House with Sydney Philharmonia and Brett Weymark.

Penelope continues her long association with the Sydney Opera House this year and their Taste of Opera Tours and returns to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

Penelope’s vast repertoire ranges from Bach Christmas Oratorio and B minor Mass, Mozart Requiem to Orff Carmina Burana, Poulenc Gloria, Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (SSO, Ashkenazy) and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Oleg Caetani and the MSO). Penelope’s operatic roles include Elettra (Idomeneo), Euridice (L’Orfeo) and Venus (Dardanus) for Pinchgut Opera; Fiordiligi, Gretel and First Lady for Pacific Opera; Tatyana (Onegin), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Nedda (I Pagliacci) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) in the UK.

With a passion for new music, Penelope has given several world and Australian premiere performances by composers such as Kaija Saariaho, John Peterson, Ib Norholm, Carl Vine and Gordon Kerry and performed Miranda in The Tempest by Thomas Adès with the MSO, conducted by the composer.

A regular guest artist in New Zealand, Penelope has sung Orff Carmina Burana and Scarlatti Christmas Cantata (with Roy Goodman) as well as headlining the Summer Gala and Last Night of the Proms, all for the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra.

Penelope can be heard in many live broadcasts for ABC Classic FM and her recordings with Pinchgut Opera for ABC Classics include Idomeneo (Mozart), Dardanus (Rameau) and L’Orfeo (Monteverdi).

Penelope Mills is managed by Graham Pushee: graham@artsmanagement.com.au
February 2023
This biography is for general information purposes only and not for publication.
Please contact Graham for an up-to-date biography to suit your needs.