She received her first violin lessons from her father, then from F. Zöldy in her native Basel. She performed at home and abroad with the family string trio and won various prizes at the Swiss Youth Music Competition. Marlise Riniker began her music studies in Basel with Hansheinz Schneeberger. In 1990 she received the sponsorship prize of the Aargau Board of Trustees.

She continued her studies with Carlo Chiarappa in Lugano and graduated in 1993 with a concert diploma. She then took lessons with Wolfram König at the Musikhochschule Trossingen. She was a replacement musician with the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, followed by replacements with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Since 1993 she has participated in the Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfriesland, played, among others, under V. Ashkenazyand and has performed in various chamber music formations. In 1994 she became a member of the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra.