The U.S. West coast première was in 1981 in San Francisco, with the Berkeley Symphony and the Contra Costa Chorale under the direction of Kent Nagano.

He is, however, retaining his directorship of the Berkeley Symphony in California, a post he has held since 1979.

But in 1979, when he was appointed director of the Berkeley Symphony, he decided to drop his operatic work and focus on the orchestral literature.

In the USA, 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.

He became an assistant at the San Francisco Opera and at the Opera Company of Boston in the 1970's before becoming director of the Berkeley Symphony.

PME has a long history with the Berkeley Symphony and Kent Nagano.

Still the conductor of the Berkeley Symphony, which is basically a community orchestra, he has enjoyed a recent and rapid rise on the international scene.

In 1978, he became the conductor of the Berkeley Symphony, his first music directorship.

In 1984 Zappa teamed again with Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony for a live performance of A Zappa Affair with augmented orchestra, life-size puppets, and moving stage sets.

(Commissioned by Kent Nagano for the Berkeley Symphony.)