Born in Aachen in 1969, Dorothee Oberlinger read music education and German at the university of Cologne, and studied the recorder with Ula Schmidt-Laukamp and Günther Höller at the Academy of Music in Cologne. After completing her studies she attended the Sweelinck conservatory in Amsterdam, where she worked with Walter van Hauwe. She also attended the Civica Scuola Musica in Milan, where she worked with Pedro Memelsdorff.
Dorothee Oberlinger has been awarded numerous prizes, awards and scholarships, including the first prize in the international SRP/Moeck U.K. competition in London, which was followed by a debut recital at the Wigmore Hall. In 2001 she was the first recorder player to receive an award from the Förderpreis Nordrhein Westfalen for young artists in the instrumental music section.
Dorothee Oberlinger is an internationally active soloist appearing, with various ensembles and (Baroque) orchestras including the Sanatori de la Giocosa Marca, Musica Antiqua Köln (Rheinhard Goebel), London Baroque, Bois de Cologne, Quadro Janas and Ensemble 1700, of which latter she was the founding member.
She has given master classes at various universities and international institutions. After a year as temporary professor at the Cologne Music Academy, she took up a professorship at the Mozarteum at the university of Salzburg in the autumn of 2004.