Jessica Cottis

Conductor

Award-winning conductor Jessica Cottis, named ‘2019 Classical “Face to Watch”’ (The Times, UK), is much in demand, working regularly with leading orchestras across the globe. Cottis grew up on her family’s sheep farm in south-eastern Australia and quickly developed a lifelong interest in both music and the natural world. She is especially interested in the relation between music, nature and science, and the act of listening. A gifted communicator who is described as a “cool, contained, super-articulate and engaging” (The Scotsman), she is a frequent contributor on BBC radio and television, commenting on a wide range of arts-related topics, from opera to architecture, synaesthesia, the environment, and acoustics.

Jessica Cottis is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. Under her leadership, the orchestra has already developed a number of important new initiatives, including significant commissions, the championing of Australian works, and integrating local culture in to the output of the orchestra. In the 22/23 season she will present two world premieres, the first by Leah Curtis and the second Kinds of Blue by Miriama Young. She will also conduct Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, Scriabin’s Piano Concerto No. 3, Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

She begins the 22/23 season with The Royal Danish Opera, rehearsing and conducting The Handmaid’s Tale, and then will return to the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin to work with Leticia Moreno, Vasteras Sinfonietta, Prague Radio to work with Benjamin Grosvenor, Charlotte Symphony to conduct Mendelssohn Lobgesang, and Opera Holland Park to premier Itch by Jonathan Dove. She will make her pandemic-delayed debuts with the National Arts Center Orchestra Ottawa and Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, and will also work for the first time with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Romanian Radio and Basel Sinfonietta.

In previous seasons, Cottis has worked with such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Antiquaine, L’Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi (laVerdi), l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, new music ensembles such as London Sinfonietta and Bang on a Can, and has enjoyed numerous re-invitations at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the prestigious BBC Proms. She has recorded for the BBC, ABC, and Decca Classics labels.

One of the most outstanding Australian conductors working today, Cottis is recognised for her engaging, wide-ranging and thought-provoking programming, and she works extensively as an advocate for classical music. She has given masterclasses for the Royal Philharmonic Society and Royal Academy of Music, and has led courses for emerging women conductors for the Royal Opera House. She sits on the Board of new music organisation and record label Nonclassical, and is Chair of the Music Board of the Tait Memorial Trust for Young Australians,a body that supports young Australian and New Zealand performing artists studying in the UK.

Cottis’ early musical career was as an organist. Awarded first class honours at the Australian National University, she continued her studies in Paris with pioneering French organist Marie- Claire Alain. After a wrist injury halted her playing career, she began conducting studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, studying with Colin Metters and Sir Colin Davis. She went on to serve as Assistant Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, where she worked closely with mentors Sir Donald Runnicles, Charles Dutoit, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. More recently she was honoured with the titles of Associate of the Royal Academy, and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the School of Music, Australian National University.

Jessica Cottis resides in London, and outside of music pursues her passion for butterflies all over the world.