Marcos Darbyshire was born in Córdoba, Argentina, where he trained as a pianist, specialising in chamber music, and as a lieder accompanist. In 2008, he moved to Germany, did an internship at Frankfurt Opera and then became a student at the Hochschule fur Musik u. Theater Hamburg, studying 'Opera Stage Direction'.

Whilst there, he created several scenic projects, including Little Red Riding Hood by Georges Aphergis, and the world premiere of The Metamorphose, based on Kafkas novella (April 2011), with both audience and critical acclaim. His final presentation was the full staging of Così fan tutte in February 2012.

Alongside his studies, he co-founded the AOIDE.Ensemble in Berlin, where he directed Così fan tutte (2010), Nozze di Figaro (2011), Die Fledermaus (2012) and Zauberflöte (2014 Radialsystem V - Berlin).

From 2012 until 2016 he worked as an assistant stage director at Opera Vlaanderen (Belgium), where he assisted renowned directors including Peter Konwitschny, David Alden, David Hermann, Robert Carsen, Tatjana Gürbaca, Calixto Bieito, Mariame Clément, Kornel Mundruzco, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and others, and revived many of their shows.

As a freelance revival director he worked in Staatstheater Nürnberg, La Fenice (Venice), Teatro Real (Madrid), Palau Reina Sofia (Valencia), Teatro de la Maestranza (Sevilla) and Opera Vlaanderen (Belgium), Grand Théâtre de Genève, and next season also Liceu Barcelona. 

He has staged three Donizetti operas, including L'elisir d'amore for a livestream for Operavision in 2021.

This last season his two productions of Nabucco (Staatstheater Mainz) and María de Buenos Aires (Theater St. Gallen) were very well received by audiences and critics alike.