[9][10][11][12] His works have been performed by conductors including Marin Alsop, Philip Brunelle, Michael Butterman, William Eddins, JoAnn Falletta, Joseph Giunta, Giancarlo Guerrero, Sarah Hicks, Jahja Ling, Lawrence Renes, Christopher Seaman, Mischa Santora, André Raphel Smith, Joseph Silverstein, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Osmo Vänskä and Dale Warland.

[17][18][15][2][19][20][21] Kurt Loft of the Tampa Tribune praised the work, calling Heitzeg "a serious composer with much to say" and adding that Nine Surrealist Studies "suggests the enigma of time and the irrational dream world that so fascinated the famed Spanish painter.

"[4] Heitzeg's belief in environmentalism and pacifism is a fundamental cornerstone of his work, with themes of social justice, ecology, and the interconnectedness of humans and the Earth interweaving in almost all his more than 150 creations.

"[12] He has taken direct inspiration from the natural world in works such as Makhato Wakpa (Blue Earth River), Voice of the Everglades, and Endangered (Written in Honor of All Turtles and Tortoises).

Heitzeg has also been inspired by artists of many different disciplines, having devoted works to painters Georgia O'Keeffe and Salvador Dali, composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, poet Pablo Neruda, and others.

[31][32] Ecology Symphony, written for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in 2010, dedicated each of its movements to a different endangered species including the leatherback turtle, Javan rhinoceros, and mountain gorilla.

"[8] Writing for the Star Tribune, Terry Blain called Heitzeg's American Nomad "an unashamedly accessible and emotional piece, packed with catchy tunes and pin-sharp evocations of both landscape and urban environments.

[24][41] Two compositions by Heitzeg, Flower of the Earth and Endangered, were used as the score for the 1991 PBS American Playhouse film A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, starring Jane Alexander and Christopher Plummer.

[48] The symphony has been performed frequently by orchestras across the U.S.[3] On the Day You Were Born won the American Library Association's Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video in 1997.

The work also honored five historic peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Hildegard von Bingen, St. Francis, Dag Hammarskjöld and Raoul Wallenberg.

A collection of his chamber works, the album includes performances by flutist Julia Bogorad, soprano Maria Jette, cellist Laura Sewell, the House of Hope Children's Choir and Zeitgeist.

[56][57][58] Heitzeg's score for the PBS documentary Death of the Dream: Farmhouses in the Heartland won an Upper Midwest Emmy in 2000 from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

[7] It was performed by cellist Laura Sewell, pianist Thomas Linker, fiddle and mandolin player Peter Ostroushko, Heitzeg himself on guitar, and members of the new-music ensemble Zeitgeist.

The premiere performance was accompanied by large-scale projection of images of the Everglades by nature photographer Clyde Butcher, who also narrated excerpts from Stoneman Douglas' writings.

Cathy Chestnut of the Fort Myers, Florida News-Press called it "a celebration of Douglas' life and the land she fought to protect, and an elegy for the endangered manatee.

Kay Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote that the work's focus on the need for world peace took on added significance given the political circumstances at the time, with its debut performance coming only two weeks after the September 11 attacks.

[62] Robert C. Fuller of the Des Moines Register called it "an eclogue to Midwestern agrarianism", and praised the use of squeaky toys to mimic prairie dogs "strangely evocative and effective.

"[63] Ghosts of the Grasslands, the first movement of the symphony, was performed by the Boulder Philharmonic, with Michael Butterman conducting, in 2017 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.[64] Heitzeg wrote Centennial Fanfare (A Common Call) in honor of the Minnesota Orchestra's 100th season in 2002.

Reviewer Camille Lefevre, writing for the Star Tribune, praised the music's "sensory and historical barrage ... packed with emotional and dramatic cues.

[72][73] Reviewing the album, Steven Ritter of Audiophile Audition magazine called Heitzeg "a composer who is fiercely melodic and knows how to integrate disparate sounds into a whole".

"[75] Cheryl Coker of the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music called it "intriguing" and said that Cornelius was "excellent" and "consistently effective throughout her vocal range.

[81] His chamber music work Seabirds and Stones: In Memory of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Refugee (Variations on Immigration) debuted together at Lakeville Area Arts Center in January 2018; performers included Anna Christofaro, soprano, and Mary Jo Gothmann, piano.

[82] For violinist Ariana Kim, Heitzeg wrote the music for How Many Breaths?, an 18-minute multimedia work for solo violin and spoken word inspired by the 2020 protests in the Twin Cities against the murder of George Floyd.

Kim not only performed the violin but edited the video presentation of demonstrations and art created during the protests, with spoken text by Penumbra Theatre artistic director Sarah Bellamy.

The Mount Olivet Choir premiered the work, which incorporates text by United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, in November 2020, and performed it again for its centennial celebration in January 2023.

[86][87] In 2022, the National Lutheran Choir, Minnesota Boychoir, and soloist Clara Osowski performed the premiere of Heitzeg and poet Susan Palo Cherwien's Lament of the Earth.

The work was a memorial to the victims of the 1945 atomic bombings of the two Japanese cities, and included percussion elements made from Hiroshima and Nagasaki trees as well as stones from the Manzanar Japanese-American concentration camp.

[90] In July 2022, the Minnesota Orchestra debuted Heitzeg's work "Green Freedom", a companion to his 2002 piece "Blue Liberty", both of which were commissioned by the Plymouth Civic League.

The first section, “Aequa (Equality Rings, Birds Sing),” debuted in September 2022, while the other three movements of Birdsongs and Bells were released over the course of the rest of the year, thematically linked to each of the seasons.

[93][94][95] In May 2023, First Presbyterian Church in Stillwater, Minnesota premiered Heitzeg's composition "Peace Everywhere," written for SATB chorus, flute, cello and organ, with text derived from the Upanishads and the Bible verse John 14:27.