There appears to be two individuals by the name of André van der Merwe involved in theatre and performance: one a pedagogue and playwright and the other a renowned choir conductor and former actor.

Not to be confused with actor/director André-Jacques van der Merwe (aka A.J. van der Merwe) or novelist André Carl van der Merwe[1]

André van der Merwe the pedagogue, author and playwright

André van der Merwe the actor, director, conductor, choral music arranger and composer.

Biography

He originally studied music at the University of Cape Town, but suffered an injury to his hand so he changed his studies to a BA (Drama) at the University of Stellenbosch, where he excelled as student actor and director.

He became a teacher and choir master, going on to serve as conductor of such award winning choirs, becoming the musical director of the Stellenberg Girls Choir (since 1999), the Stellenbosch University Choir[2] (since 2003) and his own adult choir, Voces Cordis[].

Under his baton the various ensembles have won numerous national and international awards. The US Choir for example has been voted best in the world by Interkultur[3] for most of the years between 2012 and 2020.

Since 2012 André has been as the selected South African representative on the World Choir Council for Interkultur[4] and in 2018 he served as the chairperson of the National Artistic Committee the 2018 World Choir Games, held in Tshwane, South Africa.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

As a student at the Drama Department at the University of Stellenbosch, he acted in a large numer of departmental productions, among them The Tempest (199*, playing "Prospero"), Osseba (1991 - for which he was also responsible for the soundtrack),

As a director he was responsible for the Department's production of Jacques of Onderdanigheid in 1989.