By Carla Nelson
carla.nelson@theindependent.com

Mills is currently a pianist with the world-famous Glenn Miller Orchestra.

The orchestra will perform Saturday at the Kiewit Concert Hall at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha and also on Sunday at the Grand Island Senior High auditorium as part of the Grand Island Concert Association's season. The Grand Island performance is sold out.

"This is a dream of a lifetime for a musician," Mills said. "The band is a commercial success in history. They started in 1938 and barely had a night off since."

Mills is no stranger to the big-band atmosphere. He has more than 40 years of experience on his side and an orchestra of his own called the Ron Mills Orchestra, for which he has written original arrangements.

Music was a large part of life as Mills grew up in the Grand Island area. He began playing piano at age 5 and started writing music at age 9. He began playing in his father's big band, the Bobby Mills Orchestra, at age 10.

"Music is my life. This is what I want to do and am seriously dedicated to it," Mills said.

Not only used to playing in his own big band, he has performed and guest conducted for several symphony orchestras. In December, Mills read that the Glenn Miller Orchestra was needing a pianist in January.

"I e-mailed the road manager while the band was in Japan," Mills said. "We corresponded back and forth. He looked at my Web site and called to check me out. Finally, he (the road manager) said, 'Yeah, come on.'"

While touring with his father's band, Mills was conditioned to bus travel.

"Some say traveling in a bus is a young man's game, but my dad taught me early how to live life on the road and travel," Mills said. "Ten hours a day in a bus, you condition yourself to live the best you can in the surroundings you're in."

The Glenn Miller Orchestra has been entertaining audiences with its big-band ensemble since the early 1930s. It has produced record-breaking recordings such as "Tuxedo Junction," "In the Mood" and "Chattanooga Choo Choo."

Ten years after the band's founder, Alton "Glenn" Miller, was pronounced dead in 1945, the Miller estate authorized the formation of the present orchestra. Led by Musical Director Larry O'Brien, the 19-member band continues many of the original arrangements as well as modern selections in the big-band style.