Marlene Förstel, born in 2000 in Lower Austria, first received cello lessons at the age of 6. In 2012 she was accepted into the gifted class of the J. S. Bach Music School in Vienna as well as the Young- Masters-Program for the promotion of particularly talented young musicians where she was taught by Maria Grün and Andrea Traxler.
In October 2017, she was accepted at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and studied with Maria Grün. Since October 2019 she is continuing her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Professor Reinhard Latzko.
She completed numerous master classes with renowned teachers, including Claudio Bohórquez, Wen-Sinn Yang, Heidi Litschauer, Xenia Jankovich, Miklòs Perényi, László Fenyö,and Johannes Moser. Marlene Förstel is a repeat first prize-winner of the Prima la musica competition.
In 2016, she won first prize in the "Violoncello solo" category at the national competition and was invited to perform as a soloist in the Great Hall of the Festspielhaus St. Pölten. Further soloist appearances followed, including concerts at Schloss Laudon (Lower Austria 2016, 2017), the atmospheric Great Knight's Hall of Burg Raabs (Lower Austria 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022), and the Palace of Justice Vienna with the Franz Schmidt Chamber Orchestra (Vienna 2018). She also gave solo performances abroad, for example in Italy, Croatia, Germany and Slovenia.
In April 2018 she won the string soloist category at the international competition Svirel in Slovenia and was chosen to perform at the „Ten of the Best“ Gala Concert. Furthermore, she was awarded with two special prizes, among these was an invitation to perform with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra in Lithuania and also present a solo recital there in the spring 2019.
In October 2019 she was part of the Emars-Master-Program and was selected to give a solo performance with the Slovene Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.
In December 2021 she took part in the Musica Juventutis competition and won an invitation to perform at the Vienna Konzerthaus in April 2023. After a successful audition in Summer 2022 she performed the Dvořák Cello Concerto op 104 with the Master-Orchestra in Brescia (Italy). In the season 2021/22 she played among others together with Christian Altenburger a concert of the cycle "Master & Students" in the concert hall "Das MuTh" in Vienna as well as the opening concert of the "Festival St. Gallen", where she performed the Vivaldi Cello Double Concerto RV 531. Marlene Förstel is also a passionate chamber musician.
She plays in various formations such as duo, piano trio, string quartet and cello quartet. With her celloquartett “Die Kolophonistinnen” she won the BePhilharmonic competition in April 2016 and received the Strauss Music Contest Award of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. They were furthermore invited to perform live on stage at the Summer Night Concert 2016, in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace. At the New Year's Concert 2017 of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, “Die Kolophonistinnen” were featured in the intermission film. In April 2020 they launched their very first CD “Heldinnenleben” and had their debut-concert in the Vienna Musikverein in the winter of 2021.
