Classical guitarist Mark Leighton is currently studying at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversitat under the tutelage of Campbell Diamond. After attending Yorkshire Young Musician music school from 2012 to 2016, he received an entrance scholarship from the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied under the tutelage of internationally acclaimed guitarist Craig Ogden, graduating with first class honours in 2020. He also attended masterclasses by Łukasz Kuropaczewski, David Russell, Gary Ryan, Craig Ogden, Giulio Tampalini, Xufei Yang, Peter Katona, Jacob Heringman,, Julian Byzantine, Gabriel Bianco, Sabrina Vlaskilic, Juicaël Perroy, Stephen Goss, Marcelo Kayath, Hubert Käppel, Marcin Dylla, Pavel Steidl, Thomas Offermann, Xavier Jara, Natalia Lipnitskaya, Raphaël Feuillâtre, and Lorenzo Micheli.
He has received several awards at international competitions, such as first prize at the Gordon Crosskey Guitar Prize, first prize at the Vilnius Scarlatti Award (2022), fourth prize at Brussels International Guitar Competition 2022, second prize at the Franz Cilbuka Competition in Graz – Guitar (2023) and third prize at Antwerpen Guitar Festival 2023.