A previous assistant conductor for LACO, Joana Carneiro currently serves as assistant conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon and official guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. 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.

Carneiro received her Master’s in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University and pursued Doctoral studies at the University of Michigan. One of three conductors chosen to participate in the newly founded Allianz Cultural Foundation International Conductors Academy in London during 2003-04, she also won the Young Musicians Foundation’s 2002 National Conductor Search. In 2004, Carneiro was decorated by the President of the Portuguese Republic.

Carneiro made her subscription debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2006-07 and served as the assistant conductor for John Adams’ opera, A Flowering Tree, in Vienna, which she debuted with the Chicago Opera Theater in the 2007-08 season.

photo Duarte Mexia