17-year-old Jordan Ashman, from Milton, Cambridgeshire has won the Percussion Final of BBC Young Musician 2022 and will progress through to the Grand Final of the competition. He is the fourth finalist to be announced as part of the 2022 edition of the contest, joining viola player Jaren Ziegler, flautist Sofía Patterson-Gutiérrez, and trumpeter Sasha Canter.
The BBC Young Musician 2022 Percussion Final was recorded in early July at Saffron Hall in Saffron Walden, Essex. Highlights were broadcast on BBC Four this evening (Wednesday 5 October). The other percussion finalists were George Garnett (18), Joshua Gearing (17), Sophie Warner (18) and Eric Zhang (15).
The expert panel of judges for the Percussion Final included Paul Philbert – Principal Timpanist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chineke! Orchestra – and international soloist Beibei Wang. They joined organist, director of music at Pembroke College, and broadcaster Anna Lapwood, chair of all the BBC Young Musician 2022 Category Final judging panels.
Hour-long programmes of highlights from each Category Final will broadcast on BBC Four until tomorrow, with the Keyboard Final on Thursday 6 October. They are introduced by trailblazing saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam – a competition finalist herself in 2016 and BBC Radio 3 presenter – and classical soul pianist, composer, and producer Alexis Ffrench. There is also complementary coverage on BBC Radio 3, with highlights from the Category Finals, presented by Linton Stephens with contributions from Jess Gillam, broadcast in the Lunchtime Concert slot until Friday 7 October.
The BBC Young Musician Grand Final, recorded at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on Thursday 29 September, is scheduled for broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio 3 on Sunday 9 October, with a presenting team featuring Jess Gillam, Alexis Ffrench and BBC Young Musician regular Josie d’Arby. The culmination of the contest will see Jaren Ziegler, Sofía Patterson-Gutiérrez, Sasha Canter, Jordan Ashman and the keyboard category winner competing for the prestigious title. Each finalist will perform a concerto with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Mark Wigglesworth in front of an expert jury chaired by Anna Lapwood and including 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.
Further BBC Young Musician 2022 Category Finals broadcast dates on BBC Four and finalists can be found below:
Keyboard Category Final – Highlights: Thursday 6 October, 7pm
All piano: Dida Condria (19); Duru Erdogan (18); Ethan Loch (17); Firoze Madon (18); Jacky Zhang (14)
All Category Finals will be available to watch in full on the BBC Young Musician website.
BBC Young Musician 2022 is managed and produced by BBC Studios Music and Entertainment, Cardiff.