Praised by critics as a “confident, skilled performer”, Brianna Jaeger is called a “magnetizing force” at the keyboard, with performances “sketching through sound the paradoxical beauty of heartache and the joys of human existence.” She has appeared across the globe as a soloist and collaborator, featuring performances at Carnegie Hall – Stern Auditorium, The Kaufman Music Center, Tribute Communities Recital Hall of Toronto, Schlosskirche Cathedral, Steinway Piano Gallery, and Piccolo Spoleto Festival. She is presently an active keyboardist, composer, and educator located in Northern Virgini.
At the age of 12, Brianna won her first award, associated with PBS, shortly thereafter, receiving an award in the S.C. Concerto Competition. Since then, she has continued to garner international recognition for her performances. She has been featured through live and virtual venues throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. In addition to her recital appearances, Brianna was recently awarded first place at the Rocky Mountain International Piano Competition in Canada. Earlier in 2022, she received 2nd place
at the semifinal round of the 2022 International Grand Prix
Music Competition, and as a medalist and finalist in various competitions in
Austria, Italy, and the United States.
As an avid supporter of new music, she is especially interested in avant-garde music and experimental art. She frequently performs works by modern composers, such as Benjamin Broening, Messiaen, Emma Lou Diemer, Ligeti, and Charity Morrison, and has an affinity for electro-acoustic productions. As a former member of the EDGE Contemporary Music Ensemble, Brianna performed with New York based ensemble Alarm Will Sound on their production of John Luther Adam’s ‘Ten Thousand Birds’. In 2022, she premiered Dr. Richard Pressley’s 'Cantus Hommage a Messiaen' at the
Contemporary Art Music Project in Tampa, Florida.
In addition to her keyboard career, she enjoys composing and arranging. In 2020, she was commissioned by Shenandoah University to arrange a piano solo inspired by the folk song ‘O Shenandoah’, which was premiered for the Class of 2020. In 2021, she was commissioned to write a collaborative work, titled, 'Mountaintop for Mezzo Soprano, Piano, and Dance', which premiered in Virginia. As the graduate assistant for religious studies during her second master's program, she was commissioned to compose various vocal and instrumental settings to be performed at services. Brianna's personal musical influences are inspired by the music of Messiaen, Arvo Pärt, Kaija Saariaho, plainchant, and traditional Jewish music.
Brianna obtained her M.M. from Shenandoah Conservatory, where she studied under Ieva Jokubaviciute and Dr. Alexander Bernstein. She received her B.A. in piano from Charleston Southern University, where she studied piano under Mr. Eugene Koester and Dr. Brad Parker. In high school, she received certification in musical studies through The Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto). Other influential educators in her career have included Dr. Richard Pressley, Mark Sterbank, Dr. Nicholas V. Holland, III. Graeme Burgan, and Olivia Cresswell.
In academia, her research includes her graduate theses on Beethovenian elements in Schubert, transcribing 13th century masses into modern notation, and philosophical theories in the development of musical form. At present, her publications are primarily centralized on the impact of Aristotelian philosophy in 18th century music and researching Holocaust musicology. Recently, she presented a lecture recital for StageFree DC, premiering reconstructed music written during the Holocaust, a project for which she was a Fulbright Scholar Semifinalist in Jerusalem, Israel.
As an educator, she teaches privately, directs choral ensembles, and serves as adjunct faculty at Charleston Southern University. She teaches keyboard instruments, chamber music, and theory/composition, and has previously directed symphonic winds, and liturgical music.
In addition to piano, she enjoys occasionally performing on organ, harpsichord, and as a soprano. When she is not practicing, you can find her in a café with a book, painting, or playing with her three mischievous parrots.
