After studying composition with Hans Vogt at the Musikhochschule in Mannheim Heller continued her training with Harald Genzmer and won a number of scholarships, including one from the Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt. She taught piano (with some interruptions) from 1950 to 1985, and taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim between 1958 and 1962. She was one of the co-founders and until 1981 members of the board of the Internationaler Arbeitskreis Frau und Musik and until 1989 member of the Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung in Darmstadt. Since 1976 she has been devoting more time and energy to the music of women composers, as well as to lectures, radio broadcasts, reviews, musicological research, music editions and workshops for children, youths and adults. She is also very committed to the continuing education of adults and teachers, as well as to the dissemination of contemporary music and its integration into the curriculum. Barbara Heller has written pieces for piano and chamber ensembles, as well as song cycles, sound installations and interdisciplinary experimental concepts.