Live Petrushka Fri 26 – Sat 27 April

Acclaimed Portuguese conductor Joana Carneiro is Principal Guest Conductor of the Real Filharmonia de Galicia and Artistic Director of the Estágio Gulbenkian para Orquestra, a post she has held since 2013.

Joana Carneiro was Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa at Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon from 2014 until January 2022.  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.

Joana is in high demand for her focus on contemporary music both in the concert hall and on the opera stage.   Last season at English National Opera she conducted The Handmaid’s Tale after a highly acclaimed debut in London conducting the world stage premiere of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, directed by Peter Sellars. With Scottish Opera she conducted Nixon in China and in Lisbon, Rake´s Progress.    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).

Joana’s guest conducting highlights in recent and future seasons include engagements with prominent orchestras around the world, from BBC Symphony and Philharmonia in London, BBC Scottish and Scottish Chamber, National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland) to Royal Stockholm, Gothenburg, Finnish Radio, Helsinki Philharmonic, Brussels Philharmonic, Castilla y Leon,  and La Venice in Europe. Further afield, she has performed with National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada, Los Angeles Philharmonic in the United States, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Beijing Orchestra in Asia, and Sao Paulo State Symphony in South America.

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, followed by her Masters degree in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University.

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

One of the most versatile and imaginative artists on the concert stage today, multiple Grammy Award-nominated American violinist Philippe Quint is internationally recognized for his unique approach to classical core repertoire, championing new music, rediscovering neglected works and creating a new format of docu-concert experience; multimedia journeys about lives of Astor Piazzolla and Charlie Chaplin.“Truly phenomenal” is how BBC Music Magazine recently described him, also adding that “Quint’s tonal opulence, generously inflected with subtle portamentos, sounds like a throwback to the glory days of Fritz Kreisler.”

With an award winning discography of 17 commercial releases that can be found on Warner Classics, Naxos and Avanti Classics, Philippe Quint regularly appears with major orchestras and conductors worldwide at venues ranging from the Gewandhaus in Leipzig to Carnegie Hall in New York, while making frequent guest appearances at the most prestigious festivals including Verbier, Aspen, Colmar, Hollywood Bowl and Dresden Festspiele.

Quint’s appearances in recent seasons have taken him to the London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Houston Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Weimar Staatskapelle, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, China National Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Komische Oper Orchestra, Leipzig’s MDR performing under the batons of such renowned conductors such as the late Kurt Masur, Edo De Waart, Andrew Litton, Tugan Sokhiev, Ludovic Morlot, James Gaffigan, Carl St. Clair, Michael Stern, Vladimir Spivakov, Cristian Macelaru, Kristian Jarvi, Krzysztof Urbanski, Jorge Mester, Jahja Ling, Krzysztof Urbanski, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Tugan Sokhiev, Tito Munoz, Steven Sloane and Bramwell Tovey.

Philippe Quint plays the magnificent 1708 “Ruby” Antonio Stradivari violin on loan to him through the generous efforts of The Stradivari Society®.