The Berkeley Symphony announced this week that its conductor, Joana Carneiro, will not be at the podium at its concert later this month. Instead, the symphony will be helmed by guest conductor Christian Reif from the San Francisco Symphony.
This is Berkeley Symphony’s third scheduled concert Carneiro has had to pass on, but the organization finally let on why she’s missed so many engagements: she’s pregnant.
“Carneiro is pregnant and is under doctor’s advice not to conduct or travel,” the press release stated.
Carneiro was hired as the symphony’s musical director in 2009, becoming the third person to hold that position in the institution’s 40-year history. The daughter of a former minister of education for Portugal, Carneiro still lives in her native country, working as the principal conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica Portuguesa and the Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon.
The Berkeley Symphony’s next performance will be the Bay Area premiere of Mason Bates’s new cello concerto on Jan. 26 at Zellerbach Hall. Celloist Joshua Roman will be the featured performer and Reif will conduct the orchestra.
