Marco Guidarini had a broad and comprehensive education in classics, composition and the cello. He studied conducting with Mario Gusulla and Franco Ferrara and became assistant to Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the Opéra de Lyon. He made his operatic début there conducting Falstaff and went on to conduct at the opera houses of Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, Sydney, Nice, Montpellier, Marseille, Bologna, Berlin (Deutsche Oper), Munich (Bayerische Staatsoper), Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Naples Teatro San Carlo and at many festivals, notably Wexford and Martina Franca where his performances of Verdi’s Macbeth, Il Trovatore and Mascagni’s Roma were recorded for the Dynamic label. He has also conducted major orchestras in the concert hall. At the beginning of the 2001/2 season he became Chief Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, and has since also been appointed Musical Director of the Opéra de Nice. His recording of Puccini’s Le Villi won the Grand Prix du Disque 2004 and other recordings include Simon Boccanegra in New Zealand for MMT and Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac with Roberto Alagna for EMI.