Born in Saarbrücken/Germany, Rotraut Jäger has been living in Zürich/Switzerland since 2007.

She studied flute at Peter-Cornelius-Konservatorium der Stadt Mainz (State Examined Music Teacher 2000, performance, 2002), at Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (performance diploma 2006 with Philippe Racine, jazz studies 2003-2006 with Günter Wehinger and Christoph Grab) and at Manhattan School of Music (jazz studies 2006-2007 with Dick Oatts and Steve Wilson).

During her studies Rotraut Jäger participated in workshops and masterclasses i.a. with Peter Lukas Graf, Robert Dick, Michel Debost and Moshe Epstein. Furthermore, she took part in a workshop Música Popular Brasileira in Brasil and had private lessons with Ali Ryerson, Frank Wess and Dave Liebman et al. in New York City.

As a freelance musician she is active with her own projects as well as a sideman at home and abroad. She also works as a private flute teacher and is in charge of various ensemble workshops.

She has performed i.a. with Miles Griffith (voc, US), Earle Davis (tp, US), Boncella Lewis (voc, US), Ro Gebhardt (g, DE), Vicente Cortes (g, CH/ES), Karime Amaya (Flamencodance, ES) and The Skatalites (JAM).

In 2020, she has released her first album "Sonafari" with her band Sonambique.