Geraldine Auerbach was born in Kimberley South Africa. She graduated with a BA in Johannesburg and a Teachers Certicifate in Cape Town. She married Ronnie Auerbach and they arrived in the UK in 1962. She taught art in Harrow, where she lives, for many years before becoming the founder-director of the Jewish Music Institute based at SOAS, for which she received an MBE in 2000.