Conductor Jessica Cottis will be the Canberra Symphony Orchestra's artistic adviser from 2021

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra is trumpeting change.

Chief conductor and artistic director Dr Nicholas Milton will, as previously announced, conclude his 15-year tenure at the end of 2020.

Canberra raised and educated conductor Jessica Cottis, described by Milton as "gifted and dynamic", will join the CSO as artistic adviser from 2021. She will be supported by and work with Canberra-based artistic planning manager Andy Baird and Brisbane-based Simon Hewett as principal guest conductor. Baird said the new, less centralised structure was intended "to shake up the situation" and "bring more talented people to Canberra".

Cottis, who is based in London, said in a statement, "My vision is to see the CSO develop even further as an orchestral innovator, telling compelling Australian stories and taking on thought-provoking subject matter through music."

Baird said Cottis, 40, studied organ and musicology at the Australian National University. After developing carpal tunnel syndrome she went on to study conducting at the Royal College of Music in London.

She has worked internationally as a freelance conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

While the orchestra has faced a lot of uncertainty in 2020 because of COVID-19, Baird said its 2021 program would be launched later in the year.