Conductor Jessica Cottis became the artistic director and chief conductor of the Canberra Symphony in 2021. She has had an international career, with many appearances in Britain and continental Europe, and she is a noted educator. In 2009, Cottis landed a post as assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She counts its conductor at the time, Donald Runnicles, as a mentor. In 2012, she moved on to a similar post with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She has been committed to contemporary music, and she founded her own opera company, Bloomsbury Opera. Cottis commissioned new operas by Anna Meredith and Martin Georgiev and has conducted the premieres of several other new operas. In 2015, she made her recording debut, conducting the Queensland Symphony Orchestra on the album Gallipoli Symphony. In 2022, she was heard conducting the Oculus Ensemble on the album Julie Cooper: Continuum.