Joana Carneiro

Joana is in high demand across the globe, particularly for her focus on contemporary music both in the concert hall and on the opera stage. Most recently she returned to London’s Coliseum with the English National Opera for the revival of The Handmaid’s Tale, which she premiered in 2022. This collaboration followed a highly acclaimed London debut of the world stage premiere of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, directed by Peter Sellars. With Scottish Opera Joana conducted Nixon in China at the Theatre Royal Glasgow and at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. In the recent seasons she conducted Rake´s Progress at Lisbon’s Teatro Nacional de São Carlos. Other recent opera performances include A Wonderful Town (Royal Danish Opera), Simone's La Passion (Ojai Festival), Oedipus Rex (Sydney, Helpmann Award for Best Concert by the Symphony Orchestra) and A Flowering Tree (Vienna, Paris, Chicago, Cincinnati, Gothenburg, Lisbon). In 2023 Joana conducted the premiere of the ballet production Pit by Bobbi Jene Smith at the Opera Garnier in Paris.
Among the 2024/25 symphonic season highlights are collaborations with the Naples Philharmonic, the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal, NAC Ottawa, New Zealand Symphony, Macao orchestra, Bilbao Symphony and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In the current season, Joana returns to ENO for the critically acclaimed title Mary, Queen of Scots by Thea Musgrave.
Most recently Joana concluded a four-year tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of the Real Filharmonia de Galicia. Joana was Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa at Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon from 2014 until January 2022. She is currently artistic director of the Gulbenkian Youth Orchestra, a post she has held since 2013.
Over the years, Joana has established a strong connection with many prominent orchestras across Europe, including BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Philharmonia in London, the Royal Scottish National, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Helsinki and Brussels Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Castilla y Leon Symphony Orchestra and La Venice. Further afield, Joana has collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony in the United States, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Beijing Orchestra in China and Sao Paulo State Symphony in Brazil.
A native of Lisbon, she 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. In the United States 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.
Joana was a finalist of the prestigious 2002 Maazel-Vilar Conductor’s Competition at Carnegie Hall, then in 2003-04, she worked with Maestros Kurt Masur and Christoph von Dohnanyi and conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, as one of the three conductors chosen for London’s Allianz Cultural Foundation International Conductors Academy. From 2002 to 2005, Joana served as Assistant Conductor of the L.A. Chamber Orchestra and as Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles then from 2005 through 2008, she was an American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where she worked closely with Esa-Pekka Salonen and led several performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
Joana is the 2010 recipient of the Helen M. Thompson Award, conferred by the League of American Orchestras to recognize and honour music directors of exceptional promise. In 2004, Joana was decorated by the President of the Portuguese Republic, Mr. Jorge Sampaio, with the Commendation of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique. In spring 2024, Joana became a member of the council of state of Republic of Portugal.