Elmarie van der Vyver was born in Delareyville in South Africa in 1965. She started studying the violin at a young age with Alan Solomon, and the piano with, amongst others , Pauline Nossel. Her musical career as a young player were formed by playing in the string orchestras of Alan Solomon, The South African national youth orchestra, and various other ensembles.
She added the viola to her instruments at the age of fifteen, and then switched over to the instrument completely.
She obtained her tertiary musical training  at the university of the Witwatersrand (WITS), The university of Pretoria, and, post-gradually, at the University of the North West, where she finished a Masters degree. Currently she is studying towards a DMus at the same university.
Elmarie is a very active person in the viola fraternity of South Africa. She is passionate about teaching, chamber music, and increasing the number of viola players in the country.
She is an active member of the SAVS (South African Viola Society). Increasing the amount of  South African compositions for the viola is one of her passions. She commissions compositions regularly and premiers works annually. Composers that has written for her, include Jaco Meyer, Neil van der Watt, Keith Moss, Lynette Pretorius, Franco Prinsloo and Zander Fick.
She lectured the viola at the university of Pretoria until recently. Currently she teaches at the Alexander Road high School in Port Elizabeth, where she has to establish and build a strings department.
Elmarie has a strong interest in HIPP as well. She has finished courses at the university of Cape Town (UCT), studying with Antoinette Lohmann. She has also performed with her on several occasions. Elmarie also attended a summer school with the Tafelmusik Baroque Ensemble in Toronto in 2015.