Biography

Min Rager is one of Canada’s premier female jazz pianists and composers. Born in Seoul, Korea, she moved to Montreal in 1997 to pursue a professional music career. She holds her Master’s degree in Jazz Performance from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University graduating with the distinction of “Outstanding Achievement in Jazz Piano."

At the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 2005 her Quintet was nominated for the “Grand prix de jazz General Motors”. Also that year, Min was the recipient of the “Best new Artist” award from Montreal’s L’OFF Festival de Jazz.

In 2008, Min received a commission from CBC to compose a jazz suite for 2 pianos. The work, lasting 10 minutes, was submitted to the European Broadcasting Union as a part of “The Handel Project 2009” to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.

 Min has also performed on several National Film Board of Canada soundtracks. She is featured on the soundtrack for the internationally acclaimed documentary short film “Letters from Pyongyang” directed by Jason Lee.

Min has released 2 CDs as a leader, “Bright Road” and “First Step” on Effendi Records based in Montreal. In 2017, Min independently released her 3rd CD “Train Of Thought."

She has toured extensively in Canada and continues to perform actively with some of the top jazz musicians in North America including Don Thompson, Terry Clarke, Kieran Overs, Donny McCaslin, Joel Frahm, Walt Weiskopf , Kenji Omae, Kevin Dean,
and André White.

Min is currently on faculty at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, where she teaches many courses including Jazz Keyboard Proficiency, Jazz Improvisation/Musicianship, Fundamentals of Improvisation and Jazz piano lessons along with Jazz combos in the jazz department.

discography