The contralto Marion Eckstein was born in Bernkastel-Kues and studied voice under Julia Hamari and Dunja Vejzovic at the University of Music in Stuttgart, where she passed her concert examination with distinction.

Her concert repertoire has a wide spread from the Baroque era, the Classical and Romantic periods as well as 20th century literature. She is especially devoted to the works of Mahler and performed and recorded his Kindertotenlieder with the Linos-Ensemble at the Konzerthaus Berlin.

Besides that she also took part in performances of less known pieces like Elgar's “Kingdom” and "The Dream of Gerontius“, Schmidt's “Buch mit sieben Siegeln” and Dieter Schnebel's „Dahlemer Messe“.

She is a sought-after soloist on international concert stages and a regular guest performer at seminal festivals, such as the Bachfest Leipzig, the Konzerthaus Berlin, at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, as well as at the Salzburger Festspiele, the Suntory Hall Tokyo, the Tonhalle Zürich, the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Konzerthaus Wien.

Eckstein sang under the baton of conductors such as Christian Arming, Ivor Bolton, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, René Jacobs, Kay Johannsen, Ludger Rémy, Helmuth Rilling, Yutaka Sado, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Christoph Spering. She performed with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, European Chamber Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Concerto Köln, Freiburger Barockorchester, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart and the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble.

A regular cooperation closely connects Marion Eckstein to Thomas Hengelbrock - with him as conductor she sang the Bach Mass in b minor at the Bachfest Leipzig, Mendelssohn's "Elijah" at the Tonhalle Zürch and at the Gewandhaus Leipzig.

Under Thomas Hengelbrock's baton she also sang "Stimme von oben" and "Blumenmädchen" in Wagner's Parsifal at the Teatro Real Madrid and in August 2015, giving her debut at the Salzburg Festival, Spirit and Witch in Purcell´s „Dido and Aeneas“.

Her recent and future engagements include Carmen in Stuttgart, Mary in Flying Dutchman in Stuttgart and at the Moselmusikfestival, Lucilla in Hasse's „Il Tutore“, Pflüger's „Perle“ at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Erda, 1st Norn and Schwertleite at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Zia Principessa in Puccini´s Suor Angelica in Aachen and Bradamante in Händel´s Alcina at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

Her artistic work has been documented by numerous CD releases and live concert recordings, such as G. Mahler's "Kindertotenlieder" and A. Berg's "Altenberg-Lieder" with the Linos-Ensemble (Capriccio) and "Lotti-Zelenka-Bach"(deutsche harmonia mundi ), which received a Gramophone Award in the category “Baroque-Vocal”.

Since 2019 Marion Eckstein is Professor of Singing at HMDK Stuttgart.