Lunchtime Music

Jordan Ashman percussion

Jensen Thomassie Distractions
Michael Burritt Caritas
Emmanuel Sejourné Attraction

David Ebner piano

Schubert Sonata in A major

Jordan Ashman is a 19 year old percussionist from Cambridge. He started playing drums aged seven and soon moved on to wider percussion aged ten, gaining grade 8 distinction aged 13 and a distinction in his ATCL diploma aged 15.

He has played with the National Children’s Orchestras and the National Youth Orchestra as well as the National Youth Brass Band where he was principal percussionist for three years.

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 three 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.

More recently he won critical acclaim at the 2023 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.

David Ebner started to play piano at six and by the age of sixteen he was a member of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. His performances at iconic venues throughout Europe included four of Beethoven’s five piano concertos, as well as concertos by Mozart, Chopin, and Schumann.

During his undergraduate studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, David published recordings of works by Scarlatti and Chopin before graduating top of his class in 2022. David is currently studying for the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma with Pascal Nemirovski at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

In February 2024 Jordan made his debut concerto performance at Symphony Hall in Birmingham playing Juvenalia by Robert Honstein with the City of Birmingham Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Owing to illness, Ella Blair will not be performing in this concert. We apologise for any disappointment. Thank you to David for stepping in at short notice.

Running time approx. 55 minutes