Go to page content

< Previous: Alan Buribayev | Next: Michael Christie >

Joana Carneiro Conductor

Music Director, Berkeley Symphony
Guest Conductor, Gulbenkian Orchestra

Noted for her vibrant performances in a wide diversity of musical styles, Joana Carneiro has attracted considerable attention as one of the most outstanding young conductors working today. In January 2009 she was named Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony, succeeding Kent Nagano and becoming only the third music director in the 40-year history of the orchestra. She currently serves as official guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, working with the orchestra at least four weeks every year.


Ms. Carneiro marks her second season as Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony in 2010/2011. This season’s schedule also includes a re-engagement with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with Dawn Upshaw as soloist, debuts with the Detroit and Indianapolis symphonies, and a return to Sao Paulo where she will conduct the complete Daphnis & Chloe. Last season, she led a much-lauded opening concert of the Venice Biennale in the Gran Teatro de la Fenice and made debuts with the Sao Paulo State Symphony, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, where the Pioneer Press called her performance “an unqualified triumph.” Previous engagements have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Grant Park Music Festival and Manhattan School of Music. In Europe, she has conducted the Norkopping Symphony, Prague Philharmonia and Orchestre de Bretagne, among others. Her Asian appearances have included the Macau Chamber Orchestra and Beijing Orchestra at the International Musica Festival of Macau (China).


Increasingly in demand as an opera conductor, Ms. Carneiro makes her Cincinnati Opera debut in July 2011 conducting John Adams’ A Flowering Tree, in which she also recently debuted with the Chicago Opera Theater and at La Cité de la Musique in Paris. In January 2010, Ms. Carneiro led performances of Peter Sellars’s stagings of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms at the Sydney Festival which resulted in an immediate re-engagement. 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.

This is for information only and should not be reproduced. Please see full biography for further details.