Giovanni Antonini was born in Milan. He studied at the Civica Scuola di Musica of his home town and at the Centre de Musique Ancienne in Geneva.

He is a founder member of the baroque ensemble "il Giardino Armonico", which he has led since 1989 and with whom he has appeared as conductor, as soloist on the recorder and soloist on the baroque transverse flute in Europe, United States, Canada, South America, Australia, Japan and Malesia.

He cooperates among others with artists such as Cecilia Bartoli, Christophe Coin, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Viktoria Mullova and Giuliano Carmignola.

He has received the Grammy Award 2000 as conductor of the CD "Vivaldi Album" recorded together with Cecilia Bartoli for Decca.

Besides the many commitments with il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini is often invited to conduct other orchestras such as Camerata Academica of Salzburg, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orquesta de Castilla y León, Orquesta Sinfonica of Tenerife, Orquesta Sinfonica of Galicia, Orquesta National de Madrid, Gewandhaus in Leipzig etc. Furthermore he cooperates regularly with the Kammerorchester Basel, with which he has programmed various tours and recordings. In 2006 Oehms Classics released Beethoven’s Symphonies no. 1 and 2.

In January 2004 and in December 2005, upon invitation of Sir Simon Rattle, Giovanni Antonini has conducted the Berliner Philharmoniker (and played with them as soloist) with pieces of the baroque and classical period. The Berliner Zeitung has praised his interpretation as "simply ingenuous".

In October 2006 he conducted Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba at Teatro La Scala in Milan where he will return in 2008 and 2009 to conduct Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Handel’s Alcina.

Together with il Giardino Armonico he has recorded for Teldec numerous CDs of instrumental works dedicated to A. Vivaldi (among which the Four Seasons), to other Italian composers of the 18th Century, to J.S. Bach (Brandenburg Concertos), to H.I.F. Biber and M. Locke. These recordings have been awarded with many prizes: Diapason d’Or, Echo Preis, Gramophone Award etc.