Paolo Carignani was born in Milan, where he graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in composition, organ and piano. He conducts in many Italian opera houses and international venues such as the Wiener Staatsoper, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the San Francisco War Memorial, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Gran Teatre de Liceu in Barcelona, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Opéra Bastille in Paris; in Oslo, Brussels, Antwerp, Glyndebourne, Spoleto and at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. From 1999 to 2008 Paolo Carignani was Generalmusikdirektor at Oper Frankfurt and Director of the Opern- and Museumsorchester.

Among his recent engagements are Il trovatore, Falstaff, Otello, La traviata, Macbeth, Nabucco and Norma in Munich, Giovanna d’Arco at the Salzburger Festspiele, Nabucco, Tosca and Andrea Chenier in Vienna, Otello in Zurich, Tosca in Barcelona, Turandot and Carmen at the Bregenzer Festspiele, and Turandot, Carmen and La Boheme in New York.