Joel Ashford

Joel Ashford studied at the Royal College of Music, London, with John Thurgood, Simon Rayner, Jeffrey Bryant, Kira Doherty, Timothy Jones and John Ryan, graduating in 2019 with first class honours, and in 2021 with distinction. His time at the RCM was supported by the ABRSM, Help Musicians UK and the Craxton Memorial Trust. In 2017/18, he studied in the class of Radovan Vlatković at the Mozarteum Salzburg, as a recipient of an EU Erasmus grant. 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 Aurora Orchestra, BBC Concert and Symphony Orchestras, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English National Ballet Orchestra, John Wilson Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestras of English National Opera (as a triallist) and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (latterly the National Symphony Orchestra Dublin). He is a West End deputy on Les Misérables, the Phantom of the Opera and the Lion King, and is the solo horn for the National Theatre’s production of War Horse. He is currently on trial for positions in the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Ulster Orchestra. Diary held by MAS