Barbara Haveman began her vocal studies at the Maastricht Conservatory and studied under the guidance of Carlo Bergonzi. Over the years, she has distinguished herself by winning several prestigious competitions, including the Voce Verdiane Competition, the Belvedere Competition, the Concours International de Chant de verviers, and the Franco Corelli Competition. As a Lirico Spinto soprano, her repertoire includes a wide variety of Italian, French, German, and Slavic operas.

At the Vienna State Opera, Barbara has sung major roles such as Salomé in Hérodiade, Manon Lescaut, and Tosca, as well as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Un Ballo in Maschera, and Lisa in Pique Dame. In Italy, she made notable appearances as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Teatro Regio in Turin and later appeared in La Fanciulla del West at La Scala in Milan. She also made her debuts as Sieglinde in Die Walküre and as Káta Kabanova at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.

In Spain, she sang in Simon Boccanegra at the Liceu in Barcelona and debuted as Aida.

Barbara is a regular guest at leading theaters in France, including Paris, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Nice, Marseille, and Monte Carlo. Highlights of her career include Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Elvira in Don Giovanni, Maria in The Bartered Bride, and Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire (Previn) in Strasbourg. She has also sung Jenufa, Lisa in Pique Dame, and Elvira in Don Giovanni in Toulouse, as well as roles in La Voix Humaine and Desdemona in Otello in Nice and Montpellier. In Marseille, she has sung in Lohengrin and Jenufa, while in Monte Carlo, she has sung in Rusalka, Lisa in Pique Dame, Jenufa, and Bianca in A Florentine Tragedy.

In Germany, Barbara’s roles have included Alice Ford in Falstaff in Berlin, Tosca, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, and La Fanciulla del West in Frankfurt. She has also sung Hérodiade in Munich and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Don Carlos, Pique Dame, Manon Lescaut, and Ariadne auf Naxos in Hamburg. At the Semperoper in Dresden, she has sung in Don Carlo and Simon Boccanegra, while in Cologne, she has sung Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos. At the Wiesbaden Maifestspiele, she sang Elsa in Lohengrin and made her debuts as Isolde and in Fidelio.

In her native Netherlands and Belgium, Barbara has sung Elena in Les Vêpres Siciliennes at De Nederlandse Opera. At the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, she has sung leading roles in Ernani, Mefistofele, Moïse et Pharaon, Káta Kabánova, Les contes de Hoffmann, Così fan tutte, A Florentine Tragedy, and Der König Kandaules.

She has also performed internationally, appearing in Beijing as Amelia n Un Ballo in Maschera and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, and in Léon, Mexico, where she sang Mimì in La Bohème.

The programe for the 2024/25 season includes Tosca in Avignon and Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. She will also make her debut as a director with Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, as well as an opera for children, Rusalka, for the Zomeropera Alden Biesen.
In addition to her operatic activities, Barbara is actively involved in oratorio and symphonic works, such as Vier letzte Lieder (Strauss), Symphony No. 14(Shostakovich), Frühe Lieder (Schönberg), Ein Deutsches Requiem (Brahms), Requiem (Verdi), Gurre-Lieder (Schönberg), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, and Das klagende Lied (Mahler).