Marco Guidarini studied conducting with Franco Ferrara and became assistant to Sir John-Elliot Gardiner in Lyon making his operatic debut there with Falstaff. He went on to conduct at the opera houses of New York (Metropolitan), Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, Sydney, Nice, Montpellier, Marseille, Barcelona, Seville, Bologna, Naples, Berlin (Deutsche Oper), Munich (Bayerische Staatsoper), Leipzig, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Stockholm, Copenhagen and at many festivals.

In the concert hall, he has conducted the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Orchestra Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, the Orchestre National de France, Melbourne Symphony, Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Südwestfunk Baden-Baden, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Japan Virtuoso Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus and many others.

Between 2001 and 2009 Marco Guidarini was Chief Conductor of the Opera and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice where he conducted numerous productions including Salome (French version), Pelleas et Melisande and Wozzek as well as a full annual concert series. Among other engagements have been Carmen at the Stade de France, Paris, Leoncavallo’s La Bohème for Klangbogen Wien. He also toured Japan with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice and conducted Don Carlos at the new Opera House in Oslo (their first opera production) and Il Trovatore and Simon Boccanegra for the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto.

In October 2009, he made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala conducting a new production of Le convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali. In the summer of 2010 he conducted concerts with the orchestra of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala at La Scala and on tour to Moscow, St. Petersburg and the festivals of Ravello and Pompeii. In the autumn of 2010 he made his debut at the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires with a new production of Falstaff. Also in South America he conducted Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci (Santiago) and in North America Don Pasquale for San Diego, La traviata for the Dallas Opera and Il trovatore most recently in Toronto. In Europe he conducted new productions of Cyrano de Bergerac in Seville and La Boheme in Genoa as well as Lucrezia Borgia and Rigoletto elsewhere in Italy and recently finished conducting Turandot at the Bolshoi together with Madama Butterfly at Scottish Opera. He has continued his concert activity with symphonic programmes in Spain, France and Italy.

Between 2009 and 2012 he was Artistic Director of the Rencontres Musicales de Puteaux, a festival around the figure of Bellini who died in that town just outside Paris in 1835. He is Chairman of the Bellini Competition which arose from the festival and took place in Catania in 2012. His recordings with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice including the complete Piano Concertos of John Field and complete concertos of Lalo have recently appeared on the Talent label.

In 2013 he made his debut at the Bolshoi conducting Turandot and returned with the same production in 2014. He recently made his debut at the Prague State Opera with Mefistofele. Current engagements include La Traviata for Canadian Opera Company and Romeo and Juliette for Prague State Opera.