Her father, Colonel Frederick Steiner, was a Mexican War hero and her mother an accomplished pianist.

She nonetheless continued composing, starting on an opera at age 11, Aminaide, one scene of which was produced at the Peabody Conservatory, a prominent music school in Baltimore that Steiner was not able to attend.

Some say that she was noticed for her beautiful singing, other say it was her light music which garnished attention, while others point to the important role E. E. Rice played in hiring her, despite her being a woman.

Among the many people she worked for, including George Baker, Maurice Grau, and Julius Howe, was the conductor and Metropolitan Opera Director Heinrich Conried.

During his time at The MET from 1903-1908, he had considered allowing her to conduct at the theatre, but was off-put due to her feminine stature, such a statement being a radical choice for the early 20th century.

[6] However, by 1900 her eyesight was worsening due to her contraction of an unknown illness,[3] but also funding for her operas was started to become difficult to obtain.

In its obituary after her death on February 27, 1929, The New York Times claimed that the stress of running the home had brought on the collapse that ended her life.

[3] In addition to her original works she is credited along with Caroline B. Nichols as being among the first women in the United States to make a successful career out of conducting musical performances.