Vee Cantadeu, of Swiss nationality, was born in Heildelberg, West Germany. She did not arrive in Switzerland until age 17. Her father, a hobby trombone player, was always sceptical of classical singing and piano playing. It is not surprising then that, following successful beginnings with the wooden flute at age 7, the first "big" instrument she was permitted to learn (at age 10), was the slide trombone. Just six weeks later she became a member and performed with the local church's youth brass band, which opened up the world of church music for Vee.
In Switzerland, as the one and only female trombonist of the "Stadtmusik Olten" (the brass band of the city of Olten), she became familiar with the brass and marching band musical scene in Switzerland. In subsequent years she continued to play trombone with several brass bands in other areas of Switzerland, until she decided to become a singer.
At the age of 20, Vee took her fist singing lessons. This was quite late, considering that she had frequently sung and performed with many different choirs at the various places where she had lived - with school, youth and church choirs.
Her first voice trainer was KS Maria Rehm in Konstanz, Germany.
This excellent beginning was interrupted when Vee had to move to Zurich. Nevertheless she kept on with further lessons with American opera singers at the Zurich Opera House. This until she was brought together with Prof. KS Helga Kosta, one of the most prolific opera singers there is, a friend of and comparable equal to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
Prof. KS Helga Kosta who was and still is internationally known as „Swiss Nightingale“ especially via Radio RIAS Berlin became and stayed Vee Cantadeu‘s tutor.
The mastering of the voice gained by a master can best be described by some feedbacks of Vee Cantadeu’s audience:
- “…what elegant, dreamful, truly soothing pleasure listening to her interpretation of Schuman’s “Mondnacht” or the tenderness in Reger’s “Mariä Wiegenlied”…“
- “…I’ve had a fantastic and overwhelming sound therapy with singing bowls… But listening to her singing just beat it… she’s just doing it with her voice…!”
- “…I get shivers all over up and down my spine when I hear her singing…“
- “…and enchanted her audience with her charming appearance and her voice as clear as a bell…”
What more could a singer wish than to please her audience this much?
But this is not all. Next to the refined classical singing Vee Cantadeu managed to transfer her abilities to all kind of musical styles like jazz standards, rockpop, film and musical melodies, gospel and a broad variety of latin music as Salsa, Cha-cha, Bossa Nova, Samba, Cumbia or Chicha which she's also singing in Spanish.