Giovanni Pasini grew up in Rome and Sardinia, Italy, surrounded by a family of musicians. At the age of 10 he began studying violin with Paolo Cossu, but soon developed a fascination for the deep, rich tone of the viola and decided to switch his studies to that instrument. However, his love for violin has never left him, and he graduated in both instruments. He has also studied composition with Franco Oppo.

In 1994 Giovanni joined the Italian Youth Orchestra, where conductors such as Giulini, Muti and Sinopoli inspired him to pursue an orchestral career. In 1996 he was selected to join the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, with whom he toured Europe under the baton of Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky.

He subsequently moved to France to study at the Lyon Conservatoire under Jean-Philippe Vasseur and Fabrice Lamarre, and in 2000 undertook postgraduate studies in Holland at the Maastricht University under Michael Kugel, a celebrated virtuoso viola soloist.

In the past few years Giovanni has been invited to play as Principal Violist with various orchestras including Opera de Lyon, La Monnaie (Brussels), Ciudad de Granada, BBC Philharmonic, European Sinfonietta and Symphonica Toscanini. Since 2000 he has held permanent positions as Principal Viola at the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro Lirico di Trieste and, most recently, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Giovanni has played under such esteemed conductors as Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Gianandrea Noseda, George Prêtre, Riccardo Chailly, Rudolf Barshai, Kazushi Ono and Matthias Bamert, and has appeared several times as soloist with the orchestra of Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, receiving unanimous positive reviews from the Italian press. He has also performed together with his organist father, Enrico, in several organ festivals throughout Europe.

He has given premières of works written for him by Italian composer Mario Pagotto. He has recorded several of these on the CD "Dove Dimora La Luce" released in 2001 by Velut Luna to critical acclaim. These recordings have also been broadcast by Italian Radio (RAI).

Giovanni is a dedicated teacher and in recent years has led master-classes at the Maastricht and Shanghai conservatories, as well as coaching and conducting students on the MPO Outreach Programme and members of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.