Vera Malherbe
Accompanist of the Cgals Chamber Choir:
Vera Malherbe (neé Pretorius) was born in Windhoek, Namibia, grew up in Namibia but matriculated in 1978 as a student of Bloemhof Girls’ High School in Stellebosch.
She studied music at the University of Stellenbosch and obtained her B.Mus degree in 1982. After teaching music for a year at Bellville High School she decided to return to her roots and was a music teacher for 7 years at Windhoek High School before being appointed as a lecturer in piano at the Conservatoire for Music in Windhoek – now known as the College for the Arts.
During these years in Windhoek she took up her studies in piano again under the guidance of Johann van der Merwe and obtained her Trinity College Performers Licentiate in Piano with distinction after which she also obtained the Unisa Performers Licentiate in Piano . She was also the accompanist of the Windhoek High School Choir under the baton of Ena Venter and she regularly accompanied the choir to the various ATKV competitions in South Africa where the choir was a regular finalist. She was also the accompanist of the National Youth Choir of Namibia in the 80’s. At the Conservatoire she did a lot of accompanying work to various vocal, string and woodwind students
She moved to Walvis Bay in 1994 after her husband opened a law practice in the harbor town where he still specializes in maritime work. After 2 years of teaching music at Duneside High School she started to teach privately in order to be able to give more attention to her 2 sons.
In 1996 she helped the late Ena Venter to start the Coastal Youth Choir, now known as the Mascato Youth Choir. As the choir’s accompanist she traveled to Germany, France, Spain, Canada and South Africa with them.
Currently Vera is a private music teacher with a studio in Walvis Bay where she teaches piano, flute and guitar. She also teaches music as a subject to home school candidates in the IGCSE and AS level programme. She was church organist for nearly 20 years before she resigned 5 years ago. Vera has been a member of the Cgals Chamber Choir but is currently assisting the choir as accompanist and accompanied them in their participation in the Interkultur World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia in 2014 as well as in Socchi, Russia, in 2016. She loves teaching and accompanying musicians and especially the Cgals Choir and her friend, Wilna.
Vera is married to Danie and they have two grown sons who are both currently studying in Cape Town, South Africa. In her free time she loves painting, sketching, reading, gardening and cooking.