Paolo Carignani was born in Milan, where he graduates from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in composition, organ and piano. He later studied conducting with Alceo Galliera.
He conducts in many Italian opera houses and in prestigious international venues such as the Staatsoper Wien, Berlin Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the San Francisco War Memorial, the Met in New York, the Gran Teatre de Liceu in Barcelona, the Concertgebouw Theater Opera in Amsterdam, Royal Opera House in London, the Opera Bastille in Paris, in Oslo, Brussels, Antwerp, Glyndebourne, Spoleto, the Schleswig Holstein Festival, the Rheingau Festival and at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.
His symphonic repertoire leads him to work with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Young Nederland’s Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra, the KIOTI Sinfonietta, the orchestra of the radio NDR, WDR, ORF, the RAI National Orchestra of Turin, the Nederlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Gotheburg and many others.
From 1999 to 2008 Paolo Carignani is Generalmusikdirektor the Opernhouse in Frankfurt am Main and Director of the Stable Frankfurter Opern - and Museumsorchester.
He conducted: Le Duc d’Albe in Antwerpen, Le convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali in Zurich, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Nabucco and a symphonic concert at Nikikai Opera Foundation in Tokyo, Tosca in Paris, Guillaume Tell in Amsterdam, Otello, La bohème, Trovatore, Falstaff, La traviata, Macbeth, Nabucco, Norma and Aida in Munich, Giovanna d’Arco at the Salzburg Festspiele, Traviata, Nabucco, Tosca, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Andrea Chénier, La Fanciulla del West in Wien.
Among his recent engagements: Otello in Zurich, Rigoletto in Strasbourg, Tosca in Barcellona, Pagliacci in Bari, Les Vepres Siciliennes in Copenaghen, Turandot and Amleto in Bregenz, Carmen in Toronto, Simon Boccanegra in Antwerp, Stabat Mater in Tokyo with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and Il Trovatore in Münich, Turandot and La bohème at Metropolitan of New York, Norma in Münich, Carmen in Toronto, at Bregenz Festspiele and in Sidney, Don Carlo and Nabucco in Münich, Macbeth in Bruxelles and Münich, Otello in Hamburg, Budapest and Tokyo, Rigoletto in Copenaghen, Tosca in Zürich, La bohème at Teatro Real in Madrid, Aida in Tokyo, Ali Baba e i 40 ladroni at Teatro alla Scala.