About — Alex Mills

I am a Welsh composer based in London, working across music, visual art, installation and performance.

My practice explores music as a transformative emotional and ritual force, a space for self-expression, self-discovery and shared experience.

Drawing on psychology, nature, ancient history, and metaphysical and spiritual ideas, my work uncovers how these layers shape identity and human connection.

I write opera, orchestral and chamber music, and also collaborate with artists and performers across disciplines, often extending music beyond the concert hall into galleries, installations and site-specific environments.

Recent projects include an audiovisual collaboration with digital artist Reuko, presented at immersive art gallery FRAMELESS in London. I have also worked extensively with Singaporean artist Dawn Ng, including a live performance at Frieze New York in 2024 and music for her solo show during Singapore Art Week 2026. Other collaborations include integrating sound into a kinetic sculpture by Harrison Pearce.

My work has been presented internationally across concert halls and galleries, including the Barbican, The National Gallery, the V&A, Wigmore Hall, Café OTO, Cheltenham Music Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Sónar Festival, Melbourne Recital Centre and Tokyo Opera City, and broadcast extensively on BBC Radio 3 and 4. It has also been featured widely in publications such as The Guardian, The Economist, BBC World, The Independent and Opera Magazine, and has been supported by Arts Council England and the PRS Foundation.

Proud of my Welsh roots, I composed the first known setting of Christ’s Seven Last Words - Saith Air y Groes - and was honoured to be commissioned by the National Eisteddfod of Wales to create new works for its 2026 festival.

My opera, Dear Marie Stopes, premiered at the Wellcome Collection in London in 2018 and was described by The Guardian as “music of supernatural poignancy, melodic but otherworldly.”

Dear Marie Stopes was revived in 2019 at King’s Place in a new production and hailed by The Stage as “a first-rate addition to the catalogue of one-act operas.” I have also written for ensembles including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, EXAUDI, the Ligeti Quartet, Juice Vocal Ensemble, the Welsh Chamber Orchestra and Grammy Award-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird.

In May 2026, I released my debut album, Look How Brightly, on Delphian Records. Performed by CHROMA ensemble and contralto Jess Dandy.

My debut album, Look How Brightly, presents a retrospective of my music from the past decade, bringing together some of my most distinctive, personal and experimental works to date.

I originally trained in journalism at the London College of Fashion before studying music at the University of Cambridge, later completing a Master’s degree in composition with distinction at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where I studied with Richard Baker and Paul Newland, following earlier private study with Raymond Yiu.

I am originally from Pembrokeshire in West Wales.

Photography: Diana Gomez

My practice explores music as a transformative emotional and ritual force, a space for self-expression, self-discovery and shared experience.

My opera, Dear Marie Stopes, premiered at the Wellcome Collection in London in 2018 and was described by The Guardian as “music of supernatural poignancy, melodic but otherworldly.”

My debut album, Look How Brightly, presents a retrospective of my music from the past decade, bringing together some of my most distinctive, personal and experimental works to date.

Behind the Music