Awarded the Frances Walker Piano Prize upon
graduation from Vassar College, she pursued her studies in Freiburg, Germany
before returning to the United States to complete her Masters degree at the
New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She has studied under and been
coached by such notable artist teachers as Frank Sheridan, Claude Frank,
Eugene List and Jerome Lowenthal.
Since her debut in Carnegie Recital Hall in 1974, Ms. Mills has
given additional solo recitals in such prestigious venues as Alice Tully
Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City and at the National Gallery of
Art in Washington, DC. She made her London debut in Wigmore Hall in 1981,
the first of several European performances in the following decades, most
recently giving solo recitals in Heidelberg, Munich and other cities in
Germany. She will be presenting a solo recital in Rome, Italy on May 12, 2011.
Ms. Mills has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops, Fort Myers
Symphony, Schenectady (NY) Symphony and the Fairfield Orchestra. She has
been a featured pianist with the Fine Arts, Manhattan, Cassatt and
Laurentian String Quartets and has appeared as soloist in several music
festivals, including Music Mountain in Connecticut and the Bar Harbor Music
Festival in Maine.
As an advocate of contemporary American music and the music of women
composers, Margaret Mills often presents lecture-recitals in music schools
and universities, including two appearances at the University of California,
Santa Barbara, where she presented solo piano recitals in 2007 and 2009. She
has also been featured at Miami International University in Miami, Florida
and the Juilliard School in New York City. Her knowledge of the piano
repertoire includes traditional European music alongside newer American
works, many of them by women composers. Among the composers whom she has
commissioned to write works for her have been Ruth Schonthal, Richard
Wilson, Anthony Newman and Joel Feigin.
Three of the four solo CDs recorded by Margaret Mills appear on the
Cambria Master Recordings label: Margaret Mills plays Piano Works by Lowell
Liebermann and Ruth Schonthal; the complete Pièces Pittoresques of Chabrier,
plus additional works by Debussy; and a recently released disc featuring two major
works by Joel Feigin, plus works by Ruth Schonthal, Amy Beach and Gloria
Coates. The fourth solo CD appears on the Newport Classic label and
features the music of Elizabeth Lauer, Miriam Gideon, Anthony Newman and
Richard Wilson. Other solo and chamber works are recorded by Ms. Mills on
the Newport Classic and Capstone Records labels.
Margaret Mills has had a long relationship with the Third Street
Music School Settlement in New York City as a teacher and administrator. She
is currently Manager of the Artist Performance Series, which presents weekly
faculty concerts during the school year. Ms. Mills is a member of the Board
of Visitors of the New England Conservatory of Music and a member of the
International Alliance of Women in Music.
