Jessica Cottis
Named ‘2019 Classical 'Face to Watch' (The Times) and described as a 'cool, contained, super-articulate and engaging' conductor (The Scotsman), Jessica Cottis is much in demand, working regularly with leading ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Opéra National de Bordeaux, as well as numerous re-invitations to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the prestigious BBC Proms.

One of the most outstanding Australian conductors working today, the 20/21 season marks Jessica Cottis’s new role in leading the Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s artistic team, as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director. Recognised for her engaging, wide-ranging and thought-provoking programming, her domain is music of the 19th to the current day.

Jessica Cottis’s formative education was as an organist. Awarded first class honours in organ and musicology at the Australian National University, she continued her studies in Paris with pioneering French organist Marie-Claire Alain, winning awards from the Royal Philharmonic Society and Royal College of Organists. A wrist injury halted her playing career, and in 2009 she completed her postgraduate studies in conducting with Colin Metters and Sir Colin Davis at the Royal Academy of Music. She went on to work as Assistant Conductor to mentors Sir Donald Runnicles, Charles Dutoit, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. She resides in London, experiences music as colour, and in her spare time is an avid lepidopterist.

The Oculus Ensemble
was formed in 2021 by Julie Cooper to record the album Continuum, assembled as a shining light out of a dark pandemic. A chamber orchestra conducted by Jessica Cottis and led by Clio Gould, all exceptional players and artists that the composer has worked with and greatly admired both in the studio and on the concert stage over many years.

Julie Cooper
is an award-winning British composer, whose music is broadcast extensively on film, BBC television and radio channels, ITV, Channel 4 and 5 and all visual media worldwide. She has scored multiple cinematic orchestral and chamber albums for television drama, wildlife documentaries and film, along with numerous drama commissions for theatre, BBC Radio Drama and the concert platform. Her affinity for evocative, eclectic scores and versatility as an orchestrator enables bespoke soundscapes, ever-changing styles and genres created for the brief.

She is equally at home writing for solitary, haunting solo instruments as for the dramatic power of full orchestra, recording at Abbey Road and Angel Studios with London’s finest session musicians. Her album Haunted By The Secret on Universal’s dark Chappell Noir label, had two nominations for Best Score Production Music Track in The Production Music Awards, winning with her track ‘Game Of Trust’.

Her 2019 album releases include Cinematic Gamescapes on Universal’s Chappell label scored for cinematic games and films, and Symphonic Skies featuring the distinguished soprano Grace Davidson, released by Audio Network for panoramic aerial cinematography in film, television and advertising. Most recently released in 2020 is the album Seasons commissioned by BBC Production Music for sync on Natural History and Human Stories documentaries, featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra chamber ensemble.

For the concert platform, her commissions have ranged from percussion quartet to full orchestra and choir, with performances at high-profile venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, St.Martin-in-the-Fields, St.David’s Hall, Henley Festival, Newbury Spring Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Spain’s International Music Festival Pórtico do Paraíso etc. The diverse range of musicians and instruments she has been fortunate to write for are a constant source of creative inspiration, including Dame Evelyn Glennie, Grace Davidson, Claire Moore, 4-Mality, The Locrian Ensemble of London, Justin Pearson, Andy Findon, Safri Duo, Nicholas McCarthy and contemporary urban dance company Union Dance.

Julie’s career began whilst studying composition at Cardiff University, receiving her first commission for television from BBC Wales. Early on she amassed an impressive list of theatre credits which include scores for: ‘Under Milk Wood‘ at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal, ‘Macbeth‘ at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Temba Theatre’s production of ‘Black Sheep’ UK Tour and the Young Vic Theatre, Deborah Moggach’s debut play ‘Double Take‘ at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre and the UK tour of Daphne Du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca‘. Her many soundtracks for BBC Radio 3 and 4 Dramas include Sartre’s trilogy The Roads To Freedom, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, as well as commercially scoring various ad campaigns for the Imagination Group.

She has been composer-in-residence and orchestrator since 2014 for the education project ‘Crazy Composers’, devised by BAFTA award-winning television producer Robert Howes in partnership with internationally acclaimed baroque orchestra The English Concert, Arts Council England and Buxton International Festival.