As a child he grew up with the celebrated Haussmann portrait of J. S. Bach, which had been lent to his parents for safe keeping during the Second World War.

He was educated at Bryanston School, then studied History at King's College, Cambridge, where his tutor was the social anthropologist Edmund Leach.

[3][4] While a undergraduate at Cambridge he launched his conducting career with a performance of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine in King's College Chapel on 5 March 1964.

The English Baroque Soloists made their opera debut with him in the 1977 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, performing Handel's Acis and Galatea on period instruments.

[11] In 1989 the Monteverdi Choir had its 25th anniversary, touring the world giving performances of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt and Bach's Magnificat among other works.

With the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique Gardiner has performed a wide range of Classical and Romantic music, including many works of Berlioz and all of Beethoven's symphonies.

[17][18][19] In late 2012, citing health concerns, he cancelled his planned December 2013 tour of Australia with the Monteverdi Choir and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

[24] Gardiner conducted his Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in a pre-service concert at Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of King Charles III.

[31] In July 2024 it was announced that he would be stepping down as leader and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras, focusing instead on 'other activities including guest conducting, recording, writing, creative and education projects.

[53] In August 2014, Gardiner was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that subject.