John Canarina attained national recognition during the 1961-62 season as an Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein's direction. Prior to that, after studying with the late great French conductors and teachers Pierre Monteux and Jean Morel (the latter at the Juilliard School of Music), Canarina served as Conductor of the famed Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra during 1959-60, directing nearly one hundred highly acclaimed concerts throughout Germany, Italy, and France.

John Canarina was for seven years (1962-69) Conductor and Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and in 1964 was one of four conductors selected to participate in the Peabody-Ford Foundation American Conductors Project with the Baltimore Symphony. He has held a conducting fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center and has been a guest conductor of orchestras in the United States, Canada, and Europe, including orchestras of the BBC, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England. Since 1973 he has been Director of Orchestral Studies at Drake University.

Also active as a writer and critic, John Canarina is the author of the book, Uncle Sam's Orchestra: Memories of the Seventh Army Symphony, published by the University of Rochester Press, and Pierre Monteux, Maître, published by Amadeus Press.