About
Joana Carneiro was appointed Music Director of Berkeley Symphony in January 2009, succeeding Kent Nagano as only the third Music Director in the 40-year history of the orchestra. Noted for her vibrant performances in a wide diversity of musical styles, she is considered as one of the most exciting and outstanding young conductors today.
Joana Carneiro’s inaugural season reflected the adventurous spirit of both the orchestra and the Berkeley community, with works by some of her favorite contemporary composers, notably those from the Bay Area. She introduced the audience to the music of her mentors Steven Stucky, Esa-Pekka Salonen and John Adams; Bay Area composers Gabriela Lena Frank and Paul Dresher; and German composer Jörg Widmann. She also appointed Gabriela Lena Frank as Creative Advisor to spearhead the orchestra’s Under Construction New Music Series and Composer Mentorship Program, and to deepen the orchestra’s relationship with the Bay Area communities. Her commitment was recognized by the League of American Orchestras, which honored her with the Helen M. Thompson Award in June 2010. In the same year, she was awarded the prestigious D. Antonia Adelaide Ferreira Prize in her native Portugal, and became the first woman in the arts to receive the honor.
Joana Carneiro currently serves as official guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. She recently made her debuts with the Toronto Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, São Paolo State Symphony, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Past engagements include the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Orchestre de Bretagne and Prague Philharmonia, among others. Increasingly in demand as an opera conductor, she will make her Cincinnati Opera debut in July 2011 conducting John Adams’ A Flowering Tree, in which she also recently debuted with Chicago Opera Theater and La Cité de la Musique in Paris. In January 2010, Joana Carneiro led performances of Peter Sellars’s stagings of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms at the Sydney Festival. Previously, she served as assistant conductor to Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Paris Opera’s premiere of Adriana Mater by Kaija Saariaho, and led critically acclaimed performances of Philippe Boesmans’s Julie in Bolzano, Italy.
Prior to her Berkeley Symphony appointment, Joana served as Assistant Conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2005-2008. While there, Carneiro worked closely with Esa-Pekka Salonen, hosted education concerts, and conducted subscription concerts and special projects at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and at the Hollywood Bowl. She was a finalist at the prestigious Maazel-Vilar Conductor’s Competition at Carnegie Hall in 2002. She also worked with Maestros Kurt Masur and Christoph von Dohnanyi, and conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra as one of three conductors chosen for London’s Allianz Cultural Foundation International Conductors Academy in 2003. A native of Lisbon, Carneiro began her musical studies as a violist before receiving her conducting degree from the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra in Lisbon, where she studied with Jean-Marc Burfin. She received her Master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University as a student of Victor Yampolsky and Mallory Thompson, and pursued doctoral studies at the University of Michigan, where she studied with Kenneth Kiesler.
Recent Articles
Joana Carneiro – Listening to the World (May 2010)
Joana Carneiro: Enjoying Her Breakout Year (December 2009)
