Among the 23/24 season highlights are debuts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Royal Scottish National Symphony, Bremen Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Musikkollegium Winterthur and return collaborations with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, NAC Orchestra in Ottawa,  Detroit Symphony at the English National Opera for a revival of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Recents highlights 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, Gavle Symphony, Helsinki and Brussels Philharmonic, Castilla y Leon Symphony Orchestra and La Venice in Europe. Further afield, Joana has collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the United States, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Beijing Orchestra in China, 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, where she studied with Jean-Marc Burfin. She then travelled to the United States, where she received her Masters 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.