Barbara Veenemans
South African Soprano
"The singer with Joie de Vivre"
Barbara Veenemans as Hanna Glawari in Pact's production of The Merry Widow - 1977
BARBARA'S SINGING CAREER AT A GLANCE
Barbara Veenemans is without a doubt one of South Africa's most outstanding sopranos! She has wowed audiences in countless operas, operettas and musicals over the course of her incredible 50-year career. Now at the age of 87, we will always remember the petite yet powerhouse soprano who brought the opera stage to life with her vibrant energy and charismatic stage presence.
The Veenemans-soprano voice is in a league of its own. Every Veenemans soprano has a natural voice that can be adapted to almost any fach, style and genre – it's incredible! This is a truly unique talent. Barbara has a natural full lyrical voice, with strong dramatic high notes that she can adapt to suit any role and character.
Barbara was an incredibly versatile and intelligent actress and comedian. She could make any role her own and was always a joy to watch. Her exceptional acting skills led to numerous opportunities in character roles, where her ability to adapt her voice to suit different characters was highly regarded. Her amazing lyrical abilities shone through in roles like Hanna Glawari in Franz Lehar's delightful operetta, The Merry Widow, and as Saffi in Johann Strauss's lively operetta, The Gypsy Baron.
On the concert stage, she could truly shine and showcase her incredible potential and repertoire. There, she could choose what she wanted to sing and sang many arias from the lyric, dramatic and coloratura repertoire. She performed in every type of venue, from the intimate concert hall to the grand auditoriums of Southern Africa, accompanied by full symphony orchestras. As a concert artist, Barbara toured Southern Africa, delighting audiences with her beautiful singing and captivating acting.
She really showed off her amazing versatility when she was asked to sing the role of Annie Oakley in the musical Annie Get Your Gun. This role demanded a different sound from the voice, and she nailed it! She says she is the only opera singer she knows who sang the role of Annie Oakley, which just goes to show her incredible talent!
Every stage roll was an exciting challenge for her. No role was ever too big or too small for her. She says that her favourite and most successful role in her 50-year career was that of Adele in Johann Strauss' operetta Die Fledermaus. It was a role that suited her like a glove, allowing her to showcase her comic acting and virtuosic singing with aplomb. She wowed the Pretoria and Johannesburg audiences and critics especially with her legendary version of the aria, Mein Herr Marquis.
The role of Susanna in Mozart's opera, The Marriage of Figaro, (regarded as one of the most challenging and longest soprano roles in the repertoire) was definitely one of Barbara's most successful highlights of her career. She had critics raving about the "new opera-find" – what a moment for her!
Barbara was an absolute virtuoso when it came to Mozart, and her legato singing was simply masterful. She was regarded as the perfect Mozart singer. Her talent was so highly regarded that she was later invited to further her career in Glyndebourne – a tempting offer that, sadly, she had to decline on account of family responsibilities.
But the one role she always dreamed of singing was the role of Eliza Doolittle in the musical My Fair Lady!
Aletta Greyling provides the perfect summary of Barbara's character in a newspaper article with the headline SMALL BARBARA WITH HUGE ENTHUSIASM [translated from Afrikaans to English, newspaper and date unknown]:
"... Barbara absolutely adores the 'angel-with-the-sting' rolls, and it's clear why. She's a bit like her characters, and that's why they just fit so perfectly. She's full of teasing and laughter and she's not afraid to speak her mind. She has this incredible, unstoppable energy that's like a whirlwind of fun and excitement. On stage, she is a comedian with a golden voice and a light-hearted character that can effectively adapt to her roles. She may be small in stature, but she more than makes up for it with her huge enthusiasm and a voice to match. Her singing was her hobby. Barbara says that she doesn't have a prima donna personality or temperament. There is, however, sometimes a bit of lightning coming from her side, but that has nothing to do with artistic spirit..."