Skidmore in Concert: Orchestra

Skidmore in Concert is a free, public series that showcases the excellence of our Music Department and celebrates the vibrancy of our shared artistic community. Skidmore Orchestra will be conducted by Georgia Mills. Program William Grant Still - Serenade Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 About the Conductor Georgia Markakis Mills is a Greek-American conductor, pianist, and maker of classical and contemporary music. Showcasing versatility across orchestral repertoire, opera, and new music, Dr. Mills has conducted acclaimed ensembles and collaborated with such artists as Julia Wolfe, Chris Thile, George Lewis, Augusta Read Thomas, Nico Muhly, Dylan Mattingly, Darian Donovan Thomas, Louis Andriessen, Modney, Judd Greenstein, and Courtney Bryan. Dr. Mills has appeared as a Guest Conductor with renowned orchestras and ensembles such as the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Grossman Ensemble, the New Amsterdam Symphony, Alarm Will Sound, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Present Music, the Berkshire Symphony, and Contemporaneous. As an assistant conductor and cover conductor, Dr. Mills has appeared with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, NOW Ensemble, and Ensemble Signal. Dr. Mills is devoted to inventive musical projects that challenge audiences with new experiences. She conducted a live music-to-film concert of Wu Tsang’s Moby Dick; or, The Whale scored by Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee; music directed a concert of Erik Hall’s rendition of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden; appeared as the first Guest Conductor of award-winning new music group Alarm Will Sound in a program of world premieres; cover conducted Dylan Mattingly’s six-hour opera Stranger Love at Walt Disney Concert Hall; conducted Nico Muhly’s world premiere ballet Third Bird, directed by Isaac Mizrahi and choreographed by John Heginbotham at the Guggenheim Museum; conducted the premiere studio recording of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe’s Oxygen presented by Carnegie Hall; and operated George Lewis’ machine-learning software for the premiere of George Lewis’ Tales of the Traveller at the TIME:SPANS festival. Dr. Mills serves as Music Director of the Skidmore College Orchestra and Assistant Professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Conducting at the Eastman School of Music in May 2024, when she was awarded the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize and was nominated for the Lecture Recital Prize in recognition of her research on micropolyphonic transformations in the music of György Ligeti. She received master and bachelor degrees in conducting, music leadership, and piano performance from the Eastman School of Music and New York University. RSVP is encouraged Presented by the Skidmore Department of Music