Born in Genoa (Italy), Marco Guidarini studied cello at his hometown’s conservatory, which he then perfected with André Navarra in Vienna. Here, he started to learn orchestra conduction at the Hochschule für Musik with Mario Gusella, and also took orchestra conducting master classes with Franco Ferrara. He became assistant to Sir John Elliot Gardiner at the Lyon Opera making his operatic debut there with Falstaff and Le Comte Ory. Since then he has conducted at many prestigious opera houses in New York (Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera), Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Santiago de Chile, Milan (La Scala), Nice, Marseille, Montpellier, Barcelona, Seville, Bologna, Naples, Berlin (Deutsche Oper), Munich (Bavarian State Opera), Dresden, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Rome, Cardiff (Welsh National Opera), Glasgow (Scottish Opera), London (English National Opera) and others and at many festivals. In the concert hall, he has conducted the Orchestre National de France, Melbourne Symphony, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Japan Virtuoso Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, among others. Between 2001 and 2009 Marco Guidarini was chief conductor of the Opera and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. In February 2002, he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (Rigoletto), in October 2009, he made his debut at the Milan’s Teatro alla Scala (Le convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali), and in the autumn of 2010, he debuted at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires (Falstaff). Between 2009 and 2012 he was artistic director of the Rencontres Musicales de Puteaux, a festival around Vincenzo Bellini who died in that town just outside Paris in 1835. His recordings with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice include the complete Piano Concertos of John Field (Brilliant Classics label) and symphonic works of French composers (Massenet, Charpentier, Massenet, Lalo; Talent label). His operas CD recordings have included Alfano‘s Cyrano de Bergerac with Roberto Alagna (Deutsche Grammophon), Donizzeti‘s Lucrezia Borgia (Bongiovanni), Massenet‘s Roma (Dynamic), Mozart‘s Idomeneo (Naxos), Puiccini‘s Le Villi (Radio France), Verdi‘s Macbeth (version 1843) and Le Trouvère (French version, both Dynamic), Verdi‘s Simon Boccanegra (Trust Records) and others. His opera DVD recordings have included, among others, Alfano‘s Cyrano de Bergerac with Roberto Alagna (Deutsche Grammophon), Cherubini‘s Médée (Pan Dreams), Donizetti‘s Le convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali (Bel Air), and Mozart‘s Idomeneo (Dynamic). In January 2014 he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow conducting Turandot, and he returns there in July 2014 (againTurandot). His numerous distinctions include the title of Cavaliere della Repubblica italiana for cultural achievements (2006) and Knight of the order of the Arts and Letters (2008) from the French Government.