Caroline Erkelens studied voice at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (performing musician diploma) and at Indiana University (master’s degree). She traveled the world to work with, in her view, the very best teachers. This led to a career with a strong focus on music theatre. She performed roles such as in La voix humaine (Poulenc), as the Infanta in Der Zwerg (Zemlinsky), as La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), and as Micaëla in a special production of Carmen with Het Zuidelijk Toneel.
After many operas and concerts, she felt the desire to create her own productions, which resulted in several unique collaborations.
For example, she presented concert series with harpist Anne Koene, with whom she also developed short operas for both young and old audiences. They toured throughout the Netherlands and Belgium and also went on tour in Russia.
Together with writer Maritgen Matter, she created—through improvisation—the opera Isala, Voice of a River. With pianist Nettie Krull and director Anita van Soest, she developed the performance Clara S, about Clara Schumann.
In collaboration with sound artist Hans van Koolwijk and composer Hans van Eck, the project Transit was created: a 4 × 4 × 4 meter frame from which eight sets of bells from different parts of the world were suspended—including from Japan, London, Burma, Tibet, and the Netherlands. The bells were played and sung, complemented by live electronics.
The pandemic temporarily brought life to a standstill.
Today, Caroline sings with Petite Klassiek in the children’s opera Kleur, for which she also composed the music. Recently, she performed the role of Giunone in La Calisto by Cavalli with Yala Opera. In September 2026, she will perform the title role in Rodrigo by Handel.