BBC Young Musician 2022 winner announced

Percussionist Jordan Ashman has been announced as the winner of this year’s BBC Young Musician competition. In an announcement made at the end of yesterday’s broadcast of the competition grand final, saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam, pianist, composer and producer Alexis Ffrench, and presenter Josie d’Arby presented the award to the 18-year-old percussionist.

Accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, Ashman performed Jennifer Higdon’s 2005 Percussion Concerto. He impressed a judging panel including BBC Radio 3 editor for live music Emma Bloxham, Southbank Centre head of classical music Toks Dada, conductor Ben Gernon, and sitar player, composer and producer Anoushka Shankar.

Organist and broadcaster Anna Lapwood, who chaired the judging panel, 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.’

Based in Cambridgeshire and currently studying at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Ashman has played percussion from an early age, starting at 7 with a drum kit. His experience includes performances with the National Children’s Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Brass Band.

Ashman said: ‘Working on the Jennifer Higdon Percussion Concerto with Mark Wigglesworth in the Grand Final, and performing alongside such amazing musicians including the other competitors and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra was something that I will never forget… 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.’

Filmed on 29 September at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, the grand finale also featured the four other category winners: 19-year-old trumpeter Sasha Canter, 17-year-old flautist Sofía Patterson-Gutiérrez, 18-year-old pianist Ethan Loch, and 17-year-old viola player Jaren Ziegler.