He sang in the boys choir of the Teatro alla Scala in his youth.
He studied cello for 3 years, and later piano and organ.Rustioni studied conducting under Gilberto Serembe at the Milan Conservatory and under Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
Whilst at the Royal Academy of Music in London, his mentors included Gianandrea Noseda, who gave him the opportunity to make his debut as a conductor with the orchestra of the Teatro Regio in Turin in 2007.
For 2008-2009, Rustioni was a Jette Parker Young Artist at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
He then became an assistant conductor to Antonio Pappano at Covent Garden, and served in the post for 3 years.
In January 2019, the Ulster Orchestra announced the appointment of Rustioni as its next chief conductor, effective September 2019, following 3 prior appearances as guest conductor with the orchestra.Rustioni is married to the Italian-American violinist Francesca Dego.
The couple have together recorded violin concertos of Paganini and Wolf-Ferrari for Deutsche Grammophon, where the recording of the Wolf-Ferrari violin concerto was taken from the UK premiere performance in Birmingham, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
For Sony Classical, Rustioni has recorded music of Giorgio Federico Ghedini, and an album of opera arias with Erwin Schrott.