About

In 2025, Jaeger was selected as one of only twenty pianists worldwide to participate in the International Chopin Competition and Festival in Nicosia, Cyprus, performing in multiple venues for international audiences and foreign diplomats. Her artistry has carried her to distinguished stages including Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium), the Kaufman Music Center, Steinway Piano Gallery, and Wittenberg Cathedral, as well as in festivals and concert series throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. She has been a recurring recitalist for the Ludlum Concert Series, St. Theresa
the Little Flower Concert Series, and the Fox Music House Concert Series,
among other festivals and venues.

Her artistry is marked by a sustained engagement with avant-garde and contemporary repertoire, guided by a commitment to capturing and translating the composer’s imagination with clarity, integrity, and expressive intent. She regularly programs works by twentieth-century composers and living artists, including György Ligeti, Olivier Messiaen, Terry Riley, Charity Morrison, Benjamin Broening, Ember Shilts, among others. In 2022, she gave the world premiere of Cantus: Hommage à Messiaen by Dr. Richard Pressley, a work written expressly for her, at the CAMPGround New Music Festival in Tampa. That same year, she presented a lecture-recital for Stage Free D.C. at St. Paul’s Church in Washington, D.C., in which she reconstructed and premiered musical scores composed in Holocaust concentration camps, integrating performance with archival research and historical restoration.

Her competition record includes First Prize at the 2022 Rocky Mountain International Piano Competition, which led to a performance invitation at York University in Toronto. Additionally, she was the Third Place medalist at the 2021 Charleston International Contemporary Music Competition, along with honors and placements at the International Music Grand Prix (New York City), Arte Piano Festival (Italy), and the International Music Festival Paris, among others. As a collaborative musician, she has appeared as an organ soloist with ensembles such as the Old Bridge Chamber Orchestra, performing Albinoni’s Adagio for Organ and Strings in 2024, and as a continuo harpsichordist, including a 2023 collaboration with the Paradigm Philharmonia, where she improvised continuo in historically informed settings.

Equally at home in choral, theatrical, and community-centered music-making, she has collaborated with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Spiritual Ensemble, the Charleston Gospel Choir, and a wide range of chamber and vocal ensembles. She is the founding director of the Herndon Children’s Chorus, and has served as director of the St. Theresa School Chorus and Good Shepherd School Choirs. At the collegiate level, she has worked extensively in contemporary and academic choral settings, including serving as assistant director to Dr. Sonja Sepulveda for the Salem College Chamber Contemporary Chorus, as well as assisting with choral and vocal ensembles at Shenandoah University and other music institutions.

Her musical versatility extends into musical theater, where she has worked extensively as an accompanist and visual artist for StageLights Theatre in Greensboro, North Carolina. She also maintains a strong commitment to community outreach,
frequently offering informal lecture-recitals at retirement communities throughout Northern Virginia, in addition to providing live music for restaurants, cafés,
and performance-forward venues.

Raised in South Carolina, Jaeger demonstrated exceptional musical promise from
an early age. She began her piano studies under Olivia Cresswell and
Dr. Myungsook Stoudenmire, quickly distinguishing herself in state and regional competitions. Adjudicators frequently remarked on her remarkable musicianship, unusually refined interpretive maturity, and consistently identified her as “one to watch.” At the age of thirteen, she became a finalist to appear on PBS. She competed and performed solo recitals and piano concerti, receiving numerous honors, including recognition for her performance of Haydn’s Piano Concerto in C major, Hob. XVIII:1, at the South Carolina Concerto Competition in 2008.

She advanced to the ARCT level of The Royal Conservatory of Music, completing rigorous studies in classical literature, advanced theory, and music history. Her summers were devoted to intensive musical training in New York, where
she studied piano with Dr. Bill John Newbrough, Graeme Burgan,
Julie Runion, Dr. Gretchen Hull, and organ with Evelyn Larter.

 Throughout childhood, she was frequently featured in newspapers throughout South Carolina for competition distinctions, solo performances, and her continued emergence as a notable young artist. She was invited to perform in the Rising Stars Concert Series at Spoleto Festival USA’s Piccolo Festival. Additionally, she received the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League Scholarship, and appeared as a featured soloist in numerous symphony-affiliated events.

Jaeger pursued her undergraduate studies in Piano Performance with the Horton School of Music at Charleston Southern University, where she graduated magna cum laude. She studied piano under the direct tutelage of Eugene Koester and
Dr. Brad Parker, and pursued extensive coursework in music theory, independent composition, and counterpoint with Dr. Richard Pressley. She studied conducting
with Dr. Marshall Forrester, as well as private lessons in orchestral and wind
ensemble conducting with Dr. Nicholas V. Holland, III.

Her studies were intentionally broad and interdisciplinary. She studied classical voice with Katherine Clarkson, organ with Lin Harness, and served as accompanist for the Bel Canto Singing Bucs Choirs, under the direction of Dr. Valerie Bullock, Dr. Jennifer Luiken, and Ricardo Bordas. She collaborated extensively with the university jazz band, wind ensemble, and chamber groups as both a pianist and percussionist.

 In 2018, she toured internationally with the CSU Wind Ensemble, performing throughout Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, with appearances as a pianist, organist, and percussionist, in venues such as Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Schlosskirche Cathedral, and the International Blasmusik Festival in Austria.

Her academic and artistic excellence earned her induction into Pi Kappa Lambda, where she received the Outstanding Sophomore Award for dedication to artistry, as well as into Alpha Chi for excellence in research and academics. She also received an award for excellence in mathematical studies and the University Excellence
Award for Performer of the Year (2018).

Jaeger completed graduate studies in North Carolina and Virginia, culminating in a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from Shenandoah Conservatory, where she studied under Ieva Jokubaviciute and Dr. Alexander Bernstein. During her graduate career, she worked extensively with composer Jonathan Newman, premiering solo and chamber works by student composers. Under his tutelage, she collaborated with ensembles and artists including Alarm Will Sound Orchestra, John Luther Adams, and the EDGE Ensemble, with whom she performed Donnacha Dennehy’s A Fatal Optimist as the featured soloist.

At Shenandoah, Jaeger served as a tutor in music theory, to students in undergraduate through doctoral program. . She assisted in the classrooms of Dr. Michael Fili and Dr. Keith Salley, where she also taught lectures examining music theory through philosophical and cultural-historical frameworks. Additionally, she was the
Graduate Assistant to Spiritual Life, collaborating closely with the departments
of religion and music. In this role, she directed choirs and chamber ensembles,
played piano and organ, sang for religious services, and composed and arranged
music for church musicians.

Her scholarly work includes specialized research in traditional Jewish music and Holocaust score reconstruction, for which she was named a Fulbright Program semifinalist to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She also completed extensive research in early music, including harpsichord studies, figured bass realization, continuo practice, Gregorian chant, and the reconstruction of a thirteenth-century Mass from the Brno Choirbooks into modern notation.

Throughout her academic career, she accompanied students from the studios of Dr. Fontina Naumenko, Julian Schwartz, Charles Messersmith, Dr. Michael Haldeman, Dr. Jill Terhaar Lewis, among others, building a reputation as a deeply sensitive and reliable collaborative artist. She has also participated in master classes with Dr. Magdalena Baczewska, Zbigniew Raubo, Ingmar Lazar, Congyu Wang, Nino Ushikishvili, Graciella Kowalczyk, and Dr. Peter Sykes.

An equally dedicated educator, Jaeger is the owner and director of SongBird Music Studio, LLC, a vibrant private studio based in Leesburg, Virginia, where she teaches piano, composition, voice, and strings. Her students consistently achieve high marks in The Royal Conservatory of Music examinations, participate in regional, MTNA, and international competitions, and have been accepted into conservatories and pre-college programs, including Juilliard. Her students have performed as soloists with symphonies and presented recitals at venues such as The Kennedy Center.
She has taught at numerous music schools across the East Coast, previously serving as Adjunct Professor of Music at Charleston Southern University.

In addition to her musical career, Jaeger is a published visual artist and writer. Her artwork has been featured in journals and galleries including the Hanes Art Gallery, Sefer Literary Journal, and the Avalon Journal. Her research and writings explore the union of philosophy and theory, rhetoric and literary influences in music, and historical analysis of nineteenth- and twentieth-century repertoire.

At the center of her work is a devotion to using music as a vessel for what is unspoken. She believes music can carry stories that words cannot, offering a refuge where individuals may be seen, heard, and remembered. Whether restoring lost scores, mentoring emerging artists, or performing for diverse audiences, she
offers solace through sound, honoring music as both a living art and a
deeply human act of connection.