Nov. 5, 2026
Contact: Janese Heavin, heavinj@missouri.edu
Photo by Sam Cox
From his start in an 11-member high school band in rural Missouri, senior composition student Nate Leslie has built a musical voice that emphasizes power and presence. Now, the University of Missouri School of Music and Mizzou New Music Initiative have awarded Leslie the 2027 Sinquefield Composition Prize.
The prize is the top award for composition students at Mizzou and is made possible by Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, Rex Sinquefield, and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. The award reflects the Sinquefields’ longstanding commitment to giving student composers the opportunity to hear their work brought to life.
“There’s nothing more wonderful than to sit in a concert hall and hear a piece of music that was written because of our program,” said Dr. Sinquefield, “The joy of life is music.”
As the Sinquefield Composition Prize winner, Leslie receives a $2,500 scholarship and a commission to write a new work for the University Symphony Orchestra: “CARDS ON THE TABLE, GUNS BY THE DOOR.” The new composition will premiere at the President’s Mizzou Arts Showcase on Feb. 19, 2027, and will also be professionally recorded.
“This piece is what we affectionately refer to in the concert music world as a ‘face melter,’” Leslie said. “There will be thrashing from the percussion, destruction from the brass, fireworks from the woodwinds, and unlimited power from the strings.”
Leslie drew inspiration for the composition from pop punk, the first musical style with which he felt a personal connection. Although the piece does not directly imitate the genre’s sound, it incorporates pop punk’s edginess and maximalist aesthetics.
The composition features two clarinet soloists, Mizzou School of Music faculty members Bill Kalinkos and Wes Warnhoff, pitted against the orchestra for a dramatic showcase of virtuosity.
Kalinkos is a clarinetist with the Grammy Award-winning ensemble Alarm Will Sound, an adjunct instructor of clarinet, co-director of the Mizzou Creative Improvisation Collective, and one of the conductors for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble. Warnhoff is an associate teaching professor of clarinet.
“Kalinkos and Warnhoff play with a virtuosic intensity that is every composer’s dream,” said Leslie, who has worked closely with both performers. “I am overjoyed to be working with them and the University Symphony Orchestra on this project.”
Leslie’s music style is often visceral. His work draws harmonic, rhythmic, and textural influences from electronic hardcore, jazz, pop punk, and contemporary art music. He has commissioned six new works for saxophone and participated in the premieres of more than a dozen new compositions.
Through the Mizzou New Music Initiative and summer music festivals, Leslie has studied with notable composers including Viet Cuong, Jennifer Jolley, Marc Mellits, André Thomas, and Chen Yi. His music has been performed across the United States, including premieres with Eighth Blackbird and members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Although his primary interest is the wind ensemble, his catalog includes works for solo instruments, chamber groups, and larger ensembles.
The President’s Mizzou Arts Showcase, formerly known as the Chancellor’s Arts Showcase, highlights creative work by University of Missouri students in music, textile and apparel management, theatre and performance studies, and visual studies. The new name reflects the event’s long-standing connection with University of Missouri leadership and its celebration of student work across Mizzou Arts programs. This celebration of the arts is free and open to the community.
