Greenville Symphony Orchestra Appoints New Music Director

Lee Mills will step into the role for an initial four-year term

The Greenville Symphony Orchestra has announced that Lee Mills will serve as its sixth Music Director. He was selected from 160 applicants over the course of a three-year search, and will serve an initial term of four seasons — through to the spring of 2028.

A five-time winner of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, Mills has led concerts with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (USA), Rochester Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, and the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, among others.

In 2014, Mills served as the Assistant Conductor to David Robertson for Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the USA. More recently, he was the Solti Foundation U.S. Resident at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he worked with Enrique Mazzola on the Lyric's production of Verdi's Don Carlos.

Mills studied with Gustav Meier and Marin Alsop at the Peabody Institute, as well as with Robert Bode at Whitman College. He was also a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen during the summers of 2012 and 2013.

"I am overjoyed to welcome a new leader to Greenville," said Cathy Jones, President of the Greenville Symphony Board of Directors. "Lee Mills possesses profound talent, creativity, commitment to community, and a clear and compelling artistic vision for our orchestra. After a three-year-process and 160 applicants, it was clear that Lee is the right person to build on the Greenville Symphony's foundation of artistic excellence and help shape the future of our symphony."

"I’m honored and excited to step into the role of Music Director of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra," Mills said. "Greenville’s welcoming community immediately drew me in when I came as a guest conductor, and the Symphony’s mission-driven approach to bringing people together through the performing arts is exactly what I want to be a part of."

"The musicians here are incredibly talented and inspired me by their adventurousness and dynamism. I can’t wait to bring our next season to life with them this fall."