Van Berentzen was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and gave her first concert at the age of four.

It is assured that for the comprehension of musical texts, she still has much to learn, but that this being acquired outside the Conservatory, it is only justice that she left it without more dwelling on it.

(Georges Cochet).She then continued her training with Heinrich Barth and Ernst von Dohnanyi[1] in Berlin, where she also met young Arthur Rubinstein and Wilhelm Kempff.

Van Barentzen taught throughout her life, first at the University of the Arts (Philadelphia)[1] and the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música (Argentina).

She premiered works by Henri Martelli (Fantaisie sur un thème malgache, 1946), Florent Schmitt (Hasards, 1943), and Villa-Lobos' (A prole do bebe n°2, Chôros No.