In Portugal, Carneiro studied music at the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra in Lisbon, where she attended the class of Jean-Marc Burfin.
In the US, in January 2009, Carneiro was named the third music director of the Berkeley Symphony, effective with the 2009–2010 season, with an initial contract of 3 years.
[2] The first woman to hold this post, the position marks Carneiro's first music directorship, and her first concert in that capacity took place in October 2009.
[4] In September 2013, Carneiro was announced as the next principal conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, effective 1 January 2014.
[5] Carneiro will make her Edinburgh International Festival debut in August 2019, leading the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and organist Stephen Farr in a performance of Sir James MacMillan's pieces A Scotch Bestiary and Woman of the Apocalypse.