Gianluca Martinenghi is one of most prominent Italian conductors of the younger generation. He studied piano with Piero Rattalino and composition with Bruno Bettinelli. He went on to complete his conducting studies with Donato Renzetti and Giaco Zani, which lead in turn to his collaborating with various youth orchestras.

He began his professional career at Teatro Regio di Torino and Teatro Massimo di Palermo. Since then, he conducted in numerous venues in Italy, Europe and in the USA, including Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Arena di Verona, Teatro Bellini di Catania, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo, Opera Ireland, and Palm Beach Opera. He was appointed the Artistic Director of the Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the principal guest conductor of the Tenerife Festival.

He received excellent reviews for the CD recordings of Puccini Arias and Verdi Duets with the soprano Amarilli Nizza and RobertoFrontali. With the Orchestra dell'Arena di Verona he recorded a Tribute to Enrico caruso CD for EMI. In 2012 he conducted the Münchner Rundfunkorchester and L'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and was invited to conduct the rarely performed opera Iris by P. Mascagni for the Fondazione Arena di Verona.

In the last few years he conducted at Festival of Dubrovnik and in NCPA of  Beijing  and he inaugurated the Taormina Festival with  Rigoletto (broadcasted worldwide) in 2013 and in 2014 he inaugurated with Aida and the Orchestra of Teatro Bellini di Catania the Siracusa Festival.

In 2015 he won the price of critic with Slovenian National Theatre for Dialogues Des Carmelites. Recently he debuted with National Hungarian Filarmonic Orchestra in a Gala with Diana Damrau. From 2016 he is Chief Conductor of the Macedonian National Theatre.