Percussionist Jordan Ashman wins BBC Young Musician 2022

The winner of BBC Young Musician 2022 has been announced: 18-year-old percussionist Jordan Ashman from Milton, Cambridgeshire. 

The announcement was made this evening in the competition's grand final on BBC Four and BBC Radio 3, presented by saxophonist, broadcaster and 2016 competition finalist Jess Gillam, soul pianist, composer and producer Alexis Ffrench, and BBC Young Musician presenter Josie d’Arby.

Ashman follows in the footsteps of fellow percussionist Fang Zhang who won the 2020 title at Bridgewater Hall in May last year in a delayed final due to the global pandemic.  

Chaired by broadcaster Anna Lapwood, this year's panel included BBC Radio 3’s editor for Live Music Emma Bloxham, Southbank Centre’s head of Classical Music Toks Dada, conductor Ben Gernon, and sitar player, composer and producer Anoushka Shankar. 

Ashman won with a performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto, accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Mark Wigglesworth.

The other finalists included viola player Jaren Ziegler, flautist Sofía Patterson-Gutiérrez, trumpeter Sasha Canter, and pianist Ethan Loch. 

Ashman said: ‘Taking part in BBC Young Musician 2022 was an incredible experience. I was, and still am, really excited to showcase what I and all the different percussion instruments can do, and I hope that I have greatly increased people’s understanding of percussion and that they can see how vibrant, virtuosic, expressive and dynamic the percussion can be. It is still only starting to sink in that I won, but I am really excited for the opportunities that may now come my way.’

On Jordan’s performance at the grand final, Lapwood said: ‘Jordan Ashman’s performance started not with loud, flashy playing, but with exquisite, gentle beauty. He held the entire room throughout that delicate opening and kept that magic through his whole performance. Jordan combined emotional expression with an easy, assured technique, and moments of brilliance that made all of us catch our breath.’

‘Throughout the competition, all five finalists demonstrated a bravery and commitment to excellence that was incredibly moving, showing us that tradition and innovation don’t need to be mutually exclusive but can go hand in hand. Bravo to them all, and to all the other extraordinarily talented young musicians who have been a part of this process.’

Previous BBC Young Musician winners include celebrated classical music stars such as cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, violinist Nicola Benedetti, and clarinettist Mark Simpson.

Find out more about BBC Young Musician 2022 online.