John Mills-Cockell (born 19 May 1943) is a Canadian composer and multi-instrumentalist, perhaps best known for his ground-breaking work with progressive / avant garde Canadian groups Intersystems and Syrinx, and for his numerous works for radio, television, film, ballet, and stage.
Mills-Cockell was one of the earliest adopters of the Moog synthesizer, and is generally regarded as a pioneer in the field of electronic music.
Early life
Mills-Cockell was born in Toronto, Ontario. His mother died when he was six months old. His father, whose work often required him to spend extended time overseas, found it necessary to place Mills-Cockell in an orphanage for a time shortly thereafter. Eventually, Mills-Cockell's father remarried and the family was reunited. Mills-Cockell has two younger brothers.
Mills-Cockell was introduced to music at the age of 5, when his father, a devoted amateur musician and choir singer, encouraged him to join a church choir. At the age of fifteen, he heard his first piece of electronic music and found himself "hooked."
Formal musical education
Mills-Cockell studied music at the University of Toronto from 1963 to 1967.
He studied piano under John Coveart, and composition under Dr. Samuel Dolin, at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto from 1964 to 1968, where he also taught electronic music.
He undertook graduate studies under Gustav Ciamaga at the University of Toronto's Electronic Music Studio in 1967 and 1968.
The band made a surprise comeback in March 2021, with the announcement of their 4th album, titled #4. The album is set to release on 31 April of the same year.
Syrinx
After the dissolution of Intersystems in 1968, Mills-Cockell continued to compose, working with a number of other established musicians, including Anne Murray, Bruce Cockburn, and Murray McLauchlan.
His next major visible milestone came in 1970, when, together with percussionist Alan Wells and saxophonist Doug Pringle, Mills-Cockell formed Syrinx, a progressive music trio whose body of work incorporated elements of electronica, classical and world music, and psychedelic rock. Syrinx played the Toronto coffee-house circuit. After a time, Canadian music executive and talent manager Bernie Finkelstein signed the trio to his newly created True North Records.
1970: First album and growing notice
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|right|Syrinx, TN-2, 1970 -->
Syrinx released its first (eponymous) album in 1970.
The album garnered an enthusiastic response from critics, and in its wake, the group found itself newly in demand from a variety of quarters.
Syrinx opened for jazz legend Miles Davis on his Bitches Brew tour, and played bills with Ravi Shankar.
1971: Long Lost Relatives
Riding the wave of notice and critical approval that arose from their first album, Syrinx returned to the studio in late 1970 to record a second album. However, after weeks of recording, a fire destroyed the studio, the group's instruments – including Mills-Cockell's Moog Mark II – and the master tapes of the recordings for their new album.
Undeterred, and with fundraising support from the Toronto musical community, the group purchased new instruments and pressed on to record the album.
Long Lost Relatives was issued in 1971 on Finkelstein's True North label. The album included Mills-Cockell's Tillicum and the four Stringspace pieces (which, owing to the space restrictions of the LP medium, spanned both sides of the LP), rounded out by three additional Mills-Cockell compositions: Tumblers to the Vault, Better Deaf and Dumb from the First, and Aurora Spinray. Tillicum was also released as a single, and peaked at #38 on the Canadian charts in 1971.
Solo albums and collaborations
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|right|Heartbeat, 1973 -->
In the years following the 1972 break-up of Syrinx, Mills-Cockell released a number of solo efforts, including Heartbeat (True North, 1973), A Third Testament (True North, 1974), Gateway (Anubis, 1977), and Do Your Hear the Rushing River? (1995).
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|right|A Third Testament, 1974 -->
He also released a cassette of Stella in Black and White, a collaboration with poet Blake Parker, in 1994.
In 2004, Mills-Cockell released on CD his seven-movement Concerto of Deliverance, an "extended tone poem with words," with libretto by Blake Parker.
Theatre and dance
Mills-Cockell has been active throughout his career in musicals, and has composed over 100 scores for plays in theatres across Canada. Many of his works not specifically created for dance have been adapted by dance troupes, including Belong, by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ariel Ribbon, by the Anna Wyman Dance Theatre, and Journey Tree and Chant for Your Dragon King by the National Ballet of Canada.
He is currently working on bringing Savitri and Sam, a full-length opera he composed, with libretto by Ken Gass, to the stage.
He is also working on his latest opera, Kid Catastrophe, with librettist France Ducasse.
Film, television and radio
Mills-Cockell has composed scores for such feature films as The Clown Murders (1976), Deadly Harvest (1977), Terror Train (1980), Humongous (1982), and Striker's Mountain (1985).
He has also been active as a composer for short film and television, and has created original scores for such productions as Packing Up, Reverse, The Italians, Stationary Ark, and The Little Vampire.
He has scored dozens of radio productions for the CBC.