In 2022, Jordan Ashman won the BBC Young Musician Competition.

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Jordan Ashman’s winning performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto, was broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio 3, accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Mark Wigglesworth

Jordan is a 20 year old percussionist from Cambridge.  He started playing drums aged 7 and soon moved on to wider percussion aged 10 after making a xylophone to practise on with his Dad.  He gained grade 8 distinction aged 13 and a distinction in his ATCL diploma aged 15. 

Jordan attended local schools Impington Village College and Hills Road Sixth Form and also attended the Junior Royal College of Music from 2019 – 2022 and the Junior Royal Academy of Music from 2016 – 2019.  It was only when he started at JRAM aged 12 that he started to play the marimba. At the JRCM he was runner up in the Gordon Turner competition and the under 18s solo competition (aged 16).  His percussion trio also won the chamber music competition there resulting in a Young Artist’s performance at The Wigmore Hall.

During this time Jordan also won the “most promising” player award in the Southern Percussion international tuned competition, the solo percussion prize in Foden’s Band online competition and the Davison Young Musician’s Patron’s Award. At the beginning of 2022 he won the British Open Brass Band Championship under 18s solo competition and was runner up in the adult category. 

In 2022 Jordan won the Grand Final of BBC Young Musician at The Bridgwater Hall accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. His performance of  Jennifer Higdon’s percussion concerto was described by Alexis Ffrench as having “riotous power but also sublime tenderness”.  In the previous round, Anna Lapwood said “all 3 of the judges came off the stage in tears”  at his performance, described by Paul Filbert as “exquisite”. He was subsequently named as a ”Rising Star” in BBC Music Magazine and by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

As an orchestral player Jordan was a member of the National Children’s Orchestra from aged 10-14 years and then went on to play with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He also really enjoys brass band playing and was principal percussionist with the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain for 3 years. Whilst there he won the percussion prize 3 times and the acclaimed Mortimer prize in 2022.  He has been signed by Tredegar Town Brass Band (currently ranked fourth in the world) and has been invited to perform as a soloist with The Cory Band (currently ranked number 1 in the world).

Additionally, Jordan enjoys playing and listening to jazz and has played at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, The 606 Club and at The Elgar Room in the Royal Albert Hall.

Last year Jordan won critical acclaim at the Cheltenham Festival where Ivan Hewett (Telegraph) described him as a "real star in the making" for his solo recital and was described as “exceptional” by Jeremy Pound (BBC Music Magazine) for his Mixtape performance.

Other performances include his debut concerto performance at Birmingham Symphony Hall with a European premier of Robert Honstein’s “Juvenalia” with the City of Birmingham Youth Symphony Orchestra, solo recitals at St David’s Hall Cardiff and The Leeds International Festival, and appearing as a soloist with The Cory Band.  He also performed the Ney Rosauro Marimba concerto number 1 with the City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra where he  “coaxed from the marimba every aspect of its versatility” and demonstrated his “outstanding talent”. 

Jordan is currently a scholarship student at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire under Toby Kearny and Adrian Spillett, where he won the Winifred Micklam prize in his first year.

Press reviews

"...a real star in the making..." Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph

Contact

To book Jordan please contact

       Adam Maxey - Assistant Artist Manager

       [email protected]

0207 379 8477

Photos © BBC / Dan Prince