MARLENE PRISCHICH
Artistic Director & Piano
After graduating in piano with full marks from the Conservatory-equivalent "Orazio Vecchi" Institute of Musical Studies in Modena under E. Conti, D. Borgatti and G.F. Modugno, Marlene won numerous piano competitions and festivals (including the J.S. Bach-Sestri Levante, Riviera della Versilia, City of Alassio, Giardini dell'Aulos, Stresa Prize). Already as a child she performed with Maestro Luciano Pavarotti in the choir "Orazio Vecchi" directed by Maestro M. Carpegna and in many Opera's productions for the theaters of Modena, Parma and Ferrara. She was awarded later on the Lions Club Prize for best graduate in the Emilia-Romagna Region, performing for the occasion at the "Luciano Pavarotti" Municipal Theatre in Modena. She attended Kevin Kenner's Masterclass, and specialized at the "Ino Mirković" Music Academy in Lovran (Croatia). As Erasmus-scholarship recipient she studied at the Paris-Lodron Universität in Salzburg (Austria), at Guildford College (Surrey, England) and obtained a degree with honours in Foreign Languages and Literature from the Alma Mater Studiorum University in Bologna. While still studying, she worked as personal assistant and PR of the Formula1 Pilot Michael Schumacher. In Munich (Germany) she obtained a PhD in Linguistic and Literary Sciences at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität with a thesis which was recommended for publication, and she performed as a solo pianist in the Große Philharmonie of the Kulturzentrum Gasteig for the HTV broadcasting channel. She worked for several international agencies and collaborated with different publishing houses (Handelsblatt, Tectum, De Gruyter, Alfa) and periodicals, both in Germany and in Croatia. In 1998 she was awarded the Order of the Croatian Interlace by the President of the Republic of Croatia, for the civil and humanitarian commitment with which she organized charity concerts and actions to collect funds and relief goods in support of minors, evacuees and war victims. As the creator of the crossover concert DOLCE ÉPOQUE, of which she has been the artistic director since 2017, she coordinates various private and public institutions on a transnational level, as well as 20 artists from Croatia, Italy, Austria, Germany, and England. The event garnered great acclaim from audiences and critics alike in Croatia, Italy, Germany and Austria, and obtained the high patronage of the diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Croatia, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Germany, France and Japan, as well as of the European Parliament and His Lordship, the Archduke of Austria Markus Salvator Habsburg Lothringen. She performed for the Italian RAI3 and for the Croatian HRT1 broadcasting channel.