Joana Carneiro has attracted considerable attention as one of the most outstanding young conductors working today. Currently an American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Fellow, she serves as assistant conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, working closely with Esa-Pekka Salonen. Also in 2005/2006, Carneiro took up a position as principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon, and in 2006/2007 Joana is an official guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, working with the orchestra at least four weeks every year.

As a finalist of the prestigious 2002 Maazel-Vilar Conductor’s Competition at Carnegie Hall, Carneiro was recognized by the jury for demonstrating a level of potential that holds great promise for her future career. Since then, her profile has grown quickly both in the United States and Europe, and recent engagements include performances with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the New World Symphony, the Algarve Symphony, the Mancini Institute Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She also served as assistant conductor to Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Paris Opera’s premiere of Adriana Mater by Kaija Saariaho She has conducted the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Toledo Symphony Orchestra (Ohio); the Macau Chamber Orchestra and Beijing Orchestra at the International Musica Festival of Macau (China); the Portuguese National Symphony Orchestra, and the Beiras Philharmonic Orchestra.

Future engagements include Carneiro’s debut with the Phoenix Symphony, her French debut with the Orchestre de Bretagne, her subscription debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and return engagements with the Santa Rosa Symphony and Porto Orchestra. In November 2006, Carneiro serves as the assistant conductor for the new John Adams’ opera A Flowering Tree in Vienna.

Carneiro was one of three conductors chosen to participate in the newly-founded Allizanz Cultural Foundation International Conductors Academy in London during 2003/2004. As part of this program, Carneiro benefited from guidance from maestros Kurt Masur and Christoph von Dohnanyi as well as the opportunity to conduct both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Carneiro completed her tenure as music director of the Los Angeles Debut Orchestra in June 2005, having won the Young Musician’s Foundation’s 2002 National Conductor Search. (Past winners include, among others, André Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Lucas Richman. In past seasons, Carneiro served as music director of the Campus Philharmonia Orchestra (Michigan), and as assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Joana Carneiro frequently participates in workshops and conferences. She attended the International Conducting Workshop in Prague with Maestro Gustav Meier and she was one of twenty active participants in the First International Round Table of Women Conductors in Brussels, in March of 2000. She has been an active participant in master classes hosted by Michael Tilson-Thomas, Larry Rachleff, Jean-Sebastien Bereau, Roberto Benzi, and Pascal Rophe.

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 Masters in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University, as a student of Victor Yampolsky and Mallory Thompson.

In March 2004, Carneiro was decorated by the President of the Portuguese Republic, Mr. Jorge Sampaio, with the Commendation of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique.