Teacher Profile: Brianna Jaeger

About Brianna Jaeger

Brianna Jaeger is a spirited and active Piano and Voice Instructor in the Washington D.C. Area. Accoladed as “a brilliant performer” with performances “sketching through sound the paradoxical beauty of heartache and the joys of human existence,” the Charleston, South Carolinian-native is hailed as an ‘extremely passionate’ and ‘magnetizing force’ at the keyboard. A versatile entrepreneur, she is an active recitalist, chamber musician, educator, and composer.

Since beginning formal training at the age of 10, Brianna has received international recognition as a solo artist and collaborative pianist, appearing in festivals, competitions, and venues across the globe, such as Carnegie Hall – Stern Auditorium, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Ludlum Concert Series, Schlosskirche, Steinway Piano Gallery, South Carolina Piano Festival, International Blasmusik Festival, and the St. Theresa Recital Series. She is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the National Honor Society of Music, and Alpha Chi, for academic research.

Brianna has an affinity for new music and creative collaborations, especially featuring avant-garde chamber music and electroacoustic projects. She has frequently performed and premiered music by recent and living composers, including artists such as Benjamin Broening, Olivier Messiaen, Emma Lou Diemer, György Ligeti, and Charity Morrison. As a member of the new music ensemble EDGE at Shenandoah Conservatory, Brianna performed with New York based orchestra Alarm Will Sound on their production of John Luther Adam’s ‘Ten Thousand Birds’.

Brianna holds a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from Shenandoah Conservatory where she studied in the studios of Dr. Alexander Bernstein and Ieva Jokubaviciute. She received her undergraduate degree in Piano Performance, Magna cum laude from the Horton School of Music at Charleston Southern University. She has received additional education from The Royal Conservatory of Music, for which she is a candidate for the ARCT Diploma in Piano Performance. Her primary music educators have included Dr. Brad Parker, Dr. Nicholas Holland III,Dr. Richard Pressley, Graeme Burgan, Eugene Koester, Olivia Cresswell, and Dr. Myungsook Stoudenmire.

As a music teacher and director, her goal is to instill a passion and creativity with music in each of her students. She works with students of all ages, including young beginners and preschool music through advanced repertoire, coaching college students, and first-time music adult students. Each student's curriculum is crafted to how their specific abilities, multiple intelligences, and learning styles are best integrated. Some of the methods she has worked with are Faber's Piano Adventures, The Best of Voice Solo anthologies, Bartok's Mikrokosmos, and the Royal Conservatory of Music Syllabi, to name a few. During lessons, students can expect to learn technical skills (including scales, arpeggios, double thirds, etc.), injury preventative techniques molded to suit their individual needs, repertoire, music theory, and aural skills.

In addition to her keyboard career, Brianna is an avid conductor, composer, and arranger. Her conducting experiences have led to performances throughout the Southeast, guest directing collegiate instrumental ensembles, choirs, and chamber music. As a composer, her ventures have led to her music being performed across the east coast, including scores written for solo piano, marching band, and various chamber groups. Most recently, her collaborative joint work, Mountaintop for Mezzo Soprano, Piano, and Dance, was commissioned by Shenandoah University to be performed for the Class of 2021. Her Six Lamentations for Soprano and Solo Piano are presently scheduled for premiere in early 2022. Brianna’s compositional style is heavily influenced by the music of Messiaen, Ravel, Arvo Pärt, Kaija Saariaho, and traditional Jewish and Israeli folk music.

When Brianna is not at an instrument, you can find her in a café with a book, hiking, stargazing, or playing with her three unruly parrots.