Portuguese-born conductor Joana Carneiro has been appointed as the new music director for the Berkeley Symphony. Carniero was the former assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the music director of the Los Angeles Debut Orchestra.

The LA Times covers the news here, but more information can be found at the Berkeley Symphony webpage.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle , Carneiro listed John Adams and Gabriela Lena Frank as two composers of particular importance to her. She will be conducting a work by both of these composers on her first concert with the ensemble, October 15th, where audiences will be treated to the West Coast Premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Peregrinos.

(Photo: Joana Carneiro conducting at Walt Disney Concert Hall in March 2008. Credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)