William Franklyn Leathers is a young and gifted musician on the forefront of the classical trumpet music industry. 

Born in Mississauga, Canada, the 22-year-old has been noted for "the sparkling clarity" of his trumpet solos and has performed across Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and the Caribbean. He has earned awards and accolades as he has gained increased recognition. In 2022, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named him one of Canada’s top 30 Canadian classical musicians under 30. In the same year he was also invited to perform with the renowned National Brass Ensemble (NBE), composed of the finest brass 
players in major U.S. orchestras. 

Other major highlights of William's career include winning the audition for the principal trumpet position in the Nashville Symphony and Santa Fe Opera and winning a substitute position in the Philadelphia Orchestra, all in 2022.

Excelling in music from a very young age, William at twelve years old became the youngest trumpeter accepted into the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Mississauga Symphony Youth Orchestra. His versatility has empowered him to perform with several notable ensembles, including the combined orchestra of The Royal Academy and Juilliard, in which he played principal trumpet at BBC Proms in 2019. In 2020, he had his Carnegie Hall debut, playing principal trumpet in Mahler's 5th Symphony, with the Juilliard Orchestra. 

William's diverse capabilities have been widely recognized as he serves as a substitute trumpeter for the New York City Ballet and the New York Philharmonic and was a substitute in the Broadway musical The Music Man. He has also played with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. Additionally, he has performed as guest principal trumpet with the St. Louis Symphony and as a soloist with the Nashville Philharmonic. 

William has performed with various brass ensembles, including the American Brass Quintet, the New York Philharmonic Holiday Brass, and the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass. Currently, in the last year of his master’s at Juilliard, William is steadfastly dedicated to academic and musical excellence as a student ambassador, efforts that have been recognized and further rewarded. At Juilliard, he is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship and the inaugural Fendi Vanguard Award. In 2021 he received the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award. 

In 2022, William was appointed to the Glenn Gould Foundation Prize jury and to the jury for the ITG Orchestral Excerpt Competition. He was also a member of the 2022 Music Creation and Audio Recording Assessment panel for the Toronto Arts Council. He is a performing artist for Bach Brass and has also been signed to the trumpet mouthpiece company, Vennture Mouthpieces, where he is working in collaboration to develop a line of trumpet mouthpieces in his name that will be on the market soon.