Alumnus composer Daniel Sabzghabaei (BM 2014) was recently selected for Beth Morrison Projects' new BMP: Next Generation program. Through this initiative, Daniel will be working with distinguished NYC-based chamber ensemble Contemporaneous and conductor David Bloom in a series of workshops in NYC, culminating in a performance of his work Two Reflections on The Belovèd at National Sawdust in Brooklyn on 17 March 2018.

Doctoral composer Omar Fraire presented his video installation To be radical is a privilege at the Museo Espacio in the city of Aguascalientes, México. The work was commissioned by the International Festival Ctrl + Ñ in collaboration with the Institute of Culture and the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, for a collective exhibition from August through September 2017. 

Doctoral composer Jacob Thiede received an Honorable Mention from the Flute New Music Consortium in the "Flute and Accompaniment" category for his composition, And Everything In-Between. The Flute New Music Consortium, Inc. is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose members live around the world and perform newly commissioned pieces and outstanding works from the composition competition in individual recitals, as well as at FNMC-organized events at regional and national flute festivals.

Alumnus composer Daniel Sabzghabaei (BM 2014) was selected as a VocalEssence ReMix Composer Fellow. He will be working with Minnesota's premier choral ensemble VocalEssence and composer mentor Timothy Takach in various workshop sessions on two new commissions for a cappella chorus: one will be premiered in the fall 2017 at the Minnesota ACDA conference, the other at McNally Smith College in the spring 2018.

Alumnus composer Daniel Sabzghabaei's 2017 POLYPHONOS commission work The Blue Booby, on a text from James Tate, will be performed three times (6-8 October 2017) by Seattle's leading choral ensemble The Esoterics on their concert GRAVITAS: Investigating Gravity.

On 11-12 December 2017, Nothing in the Nothingness, an opera by alumnus composer Daniel Zajicek (MM 2006) and John Grimmet was performed by the Nautilus Music-Theater in Minneapolis/Saint Paul. This one-act operatic monologue chronicles the thought process of a young man trapped in a coma, and explores what it means to be alive and functioning in a vegetative state when consciousness is not possible. It featured Nautilus performers Eric Morris and Cathleen Fuller, with music director Mind Eschendor.