Richard Mills is deservedly one of Australia's most sought after composers and music directors. In recent years he has pursued a diverse career as a composer and a conductor, which has seen him working with a large number of the nation's music organisations.

Mills pursued his advanced musical studies under Edmund Rubbra (composition) and Gilbert Webster (percussion) at the Guildhall School of Music, London, where he won the Saltzman Prize. Throughout his career he has also been recipient of the Maggs Award (1982), the Don Banks Music Fellowship (1995), and in 1999 was awarded an Order of Australia.