Kristin Merscher was born in Frankfurt am Main and as a seven-year-old had her first regular piano instruction there at the Conservatory. One year later she moved with her family to Hanover, studying at the Hanover Hochschule für Musik. From 1977 until 1980 she studied in Paris with an eminent teacher at the Conservatoire, with regular summer master-classes with György Sebok in Switzerland and at Indiana University. She made her début at the age of ten in a piano concerto by Haydn and her first solo recital at the age of fourteen, later embarking on a solo career which has taken her to the principal music centres of Europe, to the Far East and to Canada and the United States of America, as well as to the Middle East.
