Mario Garuti was born in Modena (August 4, 1957). After studying the violin, he went on to study composition under Umberto Rotondi, taking a diploma with 1st class honours at the Milan Conservatory, where he teaches today.

In 1982 and 1983 he undertook advanced studies at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena under Franco Donatoni and attended seminars by Brian Ferneyhough.
In 1984 he was invited to the Darmstadt Summer School by the director Friedrich Hommel, where he won the Stipendienpreis (with Il giardino delle Esperidi, fantasia for solo violin) and in 1986 the prestigious Kranichsteiner Musikpreis (with …e l’altro, performed by the Arditti Quartet). He participated in the komponistenforum and continued to be invited up until 1994.
Since 1983 he has conducted seminars and master classes in Italy and abroad (Cremona, Milan, Paris, San Petersburg, Salonika, Damascus, Cremona, Stuttgart, Vilnius, Granada, Malta, Birmingham).
His works have been commissioned and performed in many of the most important international festivals by famous interpreters and ensembles.
He has participated in various competitions, winning numerous prizes (Concorso Nazionale RAI, 1st Prize, Milan, 1982 - Concorso Nazionale Fiocchi, 1st prize, Milan, 1984 - Concorso Internazionale A. Berg, 2nd prize, Vienna, 1985 – Hambach International Music Competition, 1st prize, 1985 - Concorso Internazionale G. Petrassi, 2nd prize, Parma, 1986).

He has collaborated with the electronic music studios Agon, MMT, (“Westdeutcher Rundfunk with Stefano Scodanibbio”, Cologne, 1994), Tempo Reale (Parma, 2004), Metas and Federazione CEMAT (Rome, 2000).  He has made recordings with several recording companies, including Fonit-Cetra, Edipan, Col Legno, Sony, Naxos and B-side and Amadeus.

With Stefano Carrara he founded the multi-media group U.R.T.O. and in 2000 realised the opera-clip Moondata (video and texts by Armando Lazzaroni) performed during the "Di nuovo musica" festival in Reggio Emilia. In 2005, together with U.R.T.O., he participated in the Venice Biennale with the multimedia performance e+motion.