Music Director Joana Carneiro has withdrawn from Thursday's Berkeley Symphony concert. She will be replaced by Phoenix Symphony Music Director Tito Muñoz who will lead the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor,” (with Conrad Tao as soloist) and Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra.
The announcement says Carneiro, 39, has "medical reasons" for missing the concert, but doesn’t specify further, nor is there an indication of the length of her absence.
Muñoz, 32, was born in Queens, New York. He became director of the Phoenix Symphony in the 2014-15 season, has also held the posts of music director of the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy. In the U.S., he served as assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, and assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Muñoz has also led the symphony orchestras of Alabama, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Columbus, Eugene, Hartford, Houston, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kitchener-Waterloo, and San Antonio, among others.
Named principal conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in January 2014, Carneiro remains the principal guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in her native Lisbon.