Vera Westera (1972) is not the type of singer who wanted to be a singer from when she was a little child.
It wasn’t until 1992 that she decided to quit her English studies and start a musical career.
She applied for the conservatory in Arnhem, The Netherlands, without knowing what to expect and graduated cum laude after five and seven years for a bachelor’s as well as a master’s degree.
She has had many different influences from many teachers, among whom Ineke van Doorn, Peggy Larson, Adrienne West and Cornelia van der Horst. She also attended many workshops, such as the International Jazz Workshop in Banff - Canada, an EVTS-course and a four-day workshop with singer Rhiannon.
Vera won several awards, one of them being the Netherlands Jazz Vocalists Concours (first and audience prize).
Her versatility gets her to sing in many different (big) bands, ensembles and orchestras. She is leadsinger in Biyuya ensemble and
Groove Troopers, with whom she made her debut on the North Sea Jazz festival in The Hague in 2003, followed by a small tour through South-Africa in 2004.
In 2006 she did 4 concerts in New York with Ukrainian pianist Vadim Neselovskyi, in 2007 she was part of the Nopera by Michiel Braam, an improvised opera in a non-existing language.
In 2008 the opportunity was finally there for Vera Westera to present her first solo-cd ‘A View Amazing’, released by the small recordlabel Ignoring Gravity Music, produced by Bojan Vuletic.
Her voice has been heard on many occasions and now comes out in her own songs with both integrity and exuberance - a new sound happily floating in the unending universe between jazz and pop.
Vera Westera hopes to be on stage with many other colourful musicians as much as possible, to widen her musical world and language and cross boundaries in every thinkable way.