| Biography | Joel Ashford is horn player. He studied for his bachelors degree at the RCM under the tutelage of Jeffrey Bryant and Simon Rayner, graduating in 2019 with first-class honours.
He has appeared as principal horn of both their Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, won the 2018 Horn Prize and was awarded the ABRSMs Macklin Bursary. In 2017/18, he studied in the class of Radovan Vlatkovic at the Mozarteum Salzburg, as a recipient of an EU Erasmus grant. Prior to this, he was a student of Sue Dent at the RCMs Junior Department where he won numerous prizes and competitions, including the final year Esther Coleman Prize for outstanding contribution. He was principal horn of the National Youth Orchestra of GB from 2012-2014, having been appointed at just 14, and was a member of the 2016 European Union Youth Orchestra, with whom he played under Bernard Haitink.
His professional engagements to date include concerts with the Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, London Chamber Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, John Wilson Orchestra, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as guest principal with the Brandenburg Sinfonia and Spira Mirabilis. He has also given recitals in the Royal Albert Halls Elgar Room and in Beaumaris, as part of the Beaumaris International Arts Festival. |