Dr. Jacob Dalager (LSM 2004) is an award-winning composer whose music bridges classical, jazz, and contemporary traditions with rhythmic vitality, lyrical immediacy, and harmonic warmth. His works have been recognized internationally for their inventive blend of accessibility and sophistication. His compositions have been performed by ensembles including the NMSU Wind Symphony, Houston Symphony Orchestra Brass, International Women’s Brass Conference, Parkway Brass, Lirica Chamber Orchestra, St. Olaf Band, and Canadian Brass’s Jeff Nelson.

Dalager’s first concerto, 3ɟutures for Trumpet and Orchestra, has earned wide acclaim—receiving Second Prize for Composition and Winds & Brass at the 2022 Music International Grand Prix, an Honorable Mention for Orchestral Composition from The American Prize (2023), and selection for the 2025 International College Music Society Conference. The work was performed, recorded, and released by the Las Cruces Symphony under Ming Luke in March 2025, following earlier performances with the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

His Organ Mountain Fantasia for trumpet and wind ensemble was an American Prize Finalist for Band Music Composition (2023) and a featured selection at the 2024 International Trumpet Guild and Southwest College Music Society conferences.

Dalager’s chamber works have also garnered significant recognition. For example, his brass quintet Suite Analogique received Third Prize in The American Prize for Chamber Music Composition (2023), Second Prize in the 2020 Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers, and the 2022 Foundation for Modern Music Audience Choice Award.

As a jazz composer, Jacob wrote five new arrangements of British pianist Raffy Bushman’s music for the 2022 Jazz Jumpstart Festival. In 2025, he wrote a commission, Fundus, for the New Mexico All-State Jazz band. In addition, he’s written and arranged innumerable charts for jazz combo.

Jacob Dalager serves as Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Director of Jazz at New Mexico State University. He plays principal trumpet with the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra and 2nd Trumpet with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. He is an innovative pedagogue, taking a modern and individualized approach to solving the trumpet's technical challenges and laying the groundwork for each student's multi-faceted music career. As a recording artist, Dalager recently released 3ɟutures for Trumpet and Orchestra and Desert Dialogues in 2025. His first album, Paradigms: The Music of Anthony Plog(Tonsehen, 2021) was a The American Prize finalist for both Instrumental Performance and the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for American Music (2023) and received critical acclaim in Fanfare, International Trumpet Guild Journal, Meet the Artist, and American Record Guide.