Guest Conductor

Acclaimed Portuguese conductor Joana Carneiro is Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa at Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon, and Artistic Director of the Estágio Gulbenkian para Orquestra, a post she has held since 2013. From 2009 to 2018 she was Music Director of Berkeley Symphony, succeeding Kent Nagano as only the third music director in the 40-year history of the orchestra. She was also official guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra from 2006 to 2018.

Recent and future guest conducting highlights including engagements with the BBC Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (whom she conducted at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in December 2017), Swedish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and the BBC Philharmonic. Last season she conducted Bernstein’s “It’s a Wonderful Town” with the Royal Danish National Opera and a new production of “Carmen” at the Royal Stockholm Opera.

She continues to be sought after for contemporary programmes and in recent years she made her debut at the English National Opera conducting the world stage premiere of John Adams’ “The Gospel According to the Other Mary”. In 2016 she conducted a production of “La Passion de Simone” at the Ojai Festival which was highly acclaimed, and a production of Van der Aa’s “Book of Disquiet” with the London Sinfonietta. Joana also works regularly with singer/song-writer Rufus Wainwright.

Performance with Joana Carneiro: