William Leathers is an award-winning trumpet and piano player, currently based in New York City. Noted for “the sparkling clarity” of his trumpet solos, Leathers has performed with over half a dozen orchestras in his career. These include the Toronto Symphony and Toronto Youth Symphony Orchestras, the Mississauga symphony and Mississauga Youth Orchestras, the Halton Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Curtis Summerfest Orchestra, the Juilliard Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Royal Academy and Juilliard, in which he played principal trumpet at BBC Proms in 2019. 

Born in Mississauga, Ontario, Leathers started playing the piano at 4 years old.
Just five months later, he won his first competition, playing at a grade three piano level. At seven years old, he joined his elementary grade seven and eight jazz band, becoming the youngest pianist the band ever featured. At the same age, he started playing trumpet. He has studied with players such as Howard Leathers, Dr. Chris Cigolea, Guy Few, James Thompson and Christopher Martin. Five years later, at age 12, he became the youngest trumpeter to be accepted into the Toronto Symphony Youth and the Halton Mississauga Youth Orchestras.

Leathers has performed across Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and the Caribbean, earning awards and accolades as he gained increased notoriety. In 2015, he won 1st place in the HMYO Concerto competition, as well as the MARTY Emerging Performing Artist Award. In 2017, he earned the Ron Lenyk Inspiring Youth Arts Award and Scholarship, as well as the Lou Williamson Scholarship, given to the top high school jazz musician in the country. He was also the 2017 GTA’s Got Talent winner. After one of his public performances, Tammie Sutherland of City TV tweeted: “Under that amazing fro is one of the most talented 16-year-olds I’ve ever seen!”  In 2018, William was accepted into the Juilliard School – only the fourth Canadian trumpet player to attend in the school’s history and the first in 28 years. He is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree, under the guidance of Christopher Martin. As a founding member of the brass quintet Brass22, William and the ensemble recently participated in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Lincoln Center.  In February 2020, Leathers was chosen to play principal trumpet in Mahler’s 5th Symphony with the Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School.