In 2014, music critic F. Paul Driscoll described her in Opera News as "gifted with a supple, beautifully shaded lyric soprano.
She later studied voice with Shirley Verrett at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, earning a master's degree in vocal performance in 2009.
[2] That same year, she pursued further studies at the Chautauqua Institution with Marlena Malas and appeared as a soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under conductor Raymond Leppard.
In 2012, she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera as Liu in Turandot,[1] her debut with the Palm Beach Opera as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, and appeared as both The First Lady in The Magic Flute, as well as the soprano soloist in Kurt Weill's Die Zaubernacht at the Ravinia Festival with conductor James Conlon leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO).
[1] For the HBO television show Lovecraft Country, Brugger recorded an operatic setting of the poem "Catch the Fire" by Sonia Sanchez.