Roberto Rizzi Brignoli graduated with honors in Piano at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where he also studied composition and conducting. Until 2002, he was Head of Music Services at the Teatro alla Scala and started collaborating with Riccardo Muti, whose appreciation of him resulted in Rizzi Brignoli conducting numerous productions there like Otello, La Traviata, Rigoletto, I due Foscari, L'Elisir d'Amore, Adriana Lecouvreur, and La Fille du Régiment. The turning point of his career and the event which made him internationally renowned were the productions of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in the season 1997-1998, gaining a huge success.

As an expert of the Italian and French operatic repertoire, he is a welcome guest at renowned houses and festivals worldwide, including the Dresden Semperoper, the State Operas in Hamburg and Stuttgart, Opera Frankfurt, National Theatre in Mannheim, Bolshoi-Theater Moscow, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, Teatro Comunale in Firenze, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Teatro Real de Madrid, Bilbao Opera, Teatro La Maestranza in Seville, Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Marseille, Opéra de Nantes, Opéra d'Avignon, Opéra de Reims, Opéra de Dijon, and Opéra de Lausanne, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie in Brussels, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Royal Opera House Muscat, Florida Opera, Nikikai Opera in Tokyo, as well as the Chorégies d'Orange, Avenches Festival, Festival Puccini Torre del Lago, Opera Festival in Santander, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and the Sferisterio Opera Festival in Macerata.  In 2010, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli made his acclaimed debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with La Bohème. Furthermore, he is carrying a close connection to the Deutsche Oper Berlin for many years, where he led, amongst others, the new productions Il trovatore, L'elisir d'amore, as well as Rolando Villazón's highly acclaimed staging of La Rondine. In the current season, he will return to that house to conduct Turandot, Nabucco and Andrea Chénier.

Since January 2020, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli is the new Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile and the Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra. During his first year in the new position he will conduct a versatile repertoire including Lucia di Lammermoor, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, as well as a concert featuring works by Haydn, Beethoven and Berlioz.

He is sought after as a concert artist, as well. His repertoire includes symphonic works from the classic, romantic and the modern era. During his intense symphonic activity he worked with such institutions as the Orchestra dell'Arena di Verona, Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Orchestra of Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, I Cameristi della Scala, Orchestra Toscanini of Parma, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon, Orchestre National de Lille, the Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Göteborg Symfoniker, and the Limburg Symphonic Orchestra.

Further engagements in the season 2019/20 include Roger Vontobel's production of Il trovatore, that premiere Roberto Rizzi Brignoli has already led last year at the National Theatre in Mannheim and a semi-staged version of Verdi's Messa da Requiem at Hamburg's State Opera. Roberto Rizzi Brignoli has recorded for Sony and Warner Classics. Furthermore, the productions of Adriana Lecouvreur performed at the Teatro alla Scala, as well as La Rondine at Deutsche Oper Berlin are available on DVD.