In 2002 she won the Operalia singing competition in Paris and sang Desdemona (Otello) at the Los Angeles Opera. This was followed by appearances at the Teatro alla Scala, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Bavarian State Opera, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and the opera houses of San Francisco, Vienna, Madrid, Berlin, Brussels, Turin, Venice, Naples, Amsterdam, Hamburg and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, among others.

Carmen Giannattasio has worked with renowned conductors such as Paolo Arrivabeni, Maurizio Benini, James Conlon, Myung-Whun Chung, Diego Matheuz, Zubin Mehta, Sir Antonio Pappano, Daniele Rustioni, Pinchas Steinberg and Omer Meir Wellber.

Since being chosen to front important new bel canto recordings by Opera Rara, who champion rarely performed operas of the 19th century, she has distinguished herself in Rossini’s La donna del lago, Donizetti’s Parisina and in particular Rossini’s Ermione – a performance which has earned her plaudits from leading critics worldwide, with the recording winning the 2011 Gramophone Opera Award. Her recordings with the English label also include Bellini’s Il Pirata (2010) and Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro (2011).

With a repertoire that mainly includes works by Donizetti, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Mascagni, Carmen Giannattasio is currently engaged in Tosca at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome while future plans include: Eugene Onegin at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Puccini’s Trittico, La Gioconda and Tosca at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin; Aida in Oviedo; series of concert in Madeira; Gala Concert at the Carnegie Hall in New York.