Giampaolo Pretto was appointed principal conductor of Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino in 2016: a place he still holds, and in which he has been credited by media and critics of a profound renewal, both in programming and in raising the orchestra's level until today.

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Since 2009 he has been on the podium of many other italian and international ensembles: first of all Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, with which he developed since 2015 a frequent collaboration, followed by the orchestras of Arena di Verona, Wuhan Philarmonic, Z. Paliashvili (Georgia), Haydn of Bolzano, Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza, Unimi of Milan, OPV of Padova, Toscanini of Parma, Sinfonica Abruzzese at l'Aquila. He conducted for three consecutive years (2016-2018) the New Year's concert at Teatro dell'Opera in Florence, as well as many Rai-Radiotre live broadcasts from Mito Festival with Filarmonica di Torino. His repertoire ranges from  baroque to contemporary music, favoring romanticism and historical twentieth century. Particularly at ease in the symphonic-choral repertoire, he conducted Das Gebet des Herren by Schubert (Novara 2007), Misericordium by Britten (Florence 2013), Nänie by Brahms (Bari 2017), Mass in E minor by Bruckner (Bolzano and Trento 2016); but also many Italian premières, including Bach/Stravinsky's Four preludes and fugue, G. Connesson's Feux d'artifices, J. Higdon's viola concert, W. Rihm's Nähe fern; as well as other important works of our time, such as Battistelli's Sciliar, Concerto for audience and orchestra by Campogrande, and many other pieces by Colasanti, Pierini, Glass, Mintzer, Pärt.

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Particularly fond of Brahms, whose Symphonies and Serenades he often conducted, he recorded Nr. 1 in D major op. 11 on DVD. Pretto shared the stage with star soloists such as Ian Bostridge,  Jussen Brothers, Alexander Malofeev, Gabriela Montero, Enrico Dindo, Andrea Lucchesini, Chloe Mun, Benedetto Lupo, Suyoen Kim, Signum Quartet, Nils Mönkemeyer in many concerts and festivals. In 2022 he conducted the world prèmiere of the opera La notte di San Nicola by Nicola Campogrande at Petruzzelli Theatre in Bari, a production which was attended by over ten thousand people in twelve performances. A new collaboration with the Làbeque sisters is planned for Mito 2023.

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He graduated in flute and composition at the Conservatories of Verona and Turin, and was a pupil of Piero Bellugi for conducting. For eighteen years (2000-2018) he was tutor and conductor trainer of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in Fiesole.

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Also engaged as a composer, some of his highlights are the flute, cello and string orchestra Concerto Nine Rooms (2013); the quartet A flat, commissioned in 2014 by the Ex Novo Ensemble of Venice; Per quelli che volano, a clarinet Concerto commissioned by Haydn of Bolzano and conducted for the first time in 2016; Tre d'amore for chamber orchestra (2018), conducted for Unimi in Milan. In 2019 Durand published his transcription for quintet of Debussy's second Sonata.

Sky's Classica television channel dedicated two in-depth portraits of him for the series "I Notevoli" and "Contrappunti".