Josh Aerie is an experienced educator, conductor, chamber musician, and performing and recording artist. He received his Master of Music degree in Cello Performance from the University of Colorado in 2002, and completed his undergraduate work at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Oberlin College, where he received both a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance and a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Anthropology.

Mr. Aerie was the cellist of the Nacht String Quartet, the University of Colorado's Graduate Quartet from 2000 to 2002. Mentored by the Grammy-winning Takacs Quartet, the Nacht won both first prize and the audience choice award in the Bruce Ekstrand Memorial Competition in December 2001. They were then invited to be the inaugural quartet in an exchange and residency program with the Hans Eisler Conservatory in Berlin. Subsequently, the Quartet spent 8 weeks in Germany, performing in Berlin, Lichterfelde, and Bielefeld.

In the summer of 2004 he moved to Northern Virginia from Los Angeles where he was a successful freelancer and teacher. While in Southern California he was a regular cellist in many orchestras, including the Riverside Philharmonic, the San Bernardino Symphony, the Los Angeles Debut Orchestra, and the Golden State Pops. While in the Washington, D.C. area Mr. Aerie performed with the National Philharmonic, Maryland Symphony, Baltimore Concert Artists, Fairfax Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, and the National Cathedral Orchestra. Additionally, he performed for various dignitaries, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Veterans' Affairs Anthony Principi, foreign ambassadors, and members of congress at such venues as the Kennedy Center, Strathmore Hall, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian museums.

Mr. Aerie currently lives in Duluth, Minnesota, and is on the music faculty at both the College of St. Scholastica and Mesabi Range Community and Technical College. At St. Scholastica he teaches cello and occasionally beginning violin, and has taught music courses for the school's Emeritus College program. At Mesabi College he is the primary Music Instructor, Strings Instructor, and is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Mesabi Community Orchestra. Mr. Aerie is also Artistic Director and Conductor of the Red Cedar Symphony Orchestra, and conducts the Duluth Community Orchestra. Most recently, in the spring of 2009, he was appointed the new Music Director and Conductor of the Heartland Symphony Orchestra, based in the Brainerd/Little Falls, Minnesota area. In the summer of 2007, he founded the Woodland Chamber Music Workshop which provides adult amateur chamber musicians an annual opportunity to come together for coachings, seminars, and performances both on the picturesque North Shore of Lake Superior in Tofte, and in Duluth.

Mr. Aerie has performed numerous public cello recitals in the Northland, collaborated with the area's foremost musicians in chamber music, and is a founding member of the Gichigami Piano Trio. He has numerous recording credits, including on United Artists, Innova, and Vitamin Records labels, and on film soundtracks. He has appeared on nationally-syndicated television programs and national tours. Closer to home, he often plays in the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, and has served as Principal Cellist of both the Duluth Festival Opera and Lyric Opera of the North. In Minneapolis, Josh performs with the AxialAge Ensemble, Captain Yonder, and is currently working on a cello tribute album with Quiditty Records. He plays traditional acoustic cello as well as electric cello, and is comfortable in improvisational, contemporary, and experimental music.

Mr. Aerie enjoys teaching and maintains an active studio. He has conducted master classes and coached various ensembles, and is sought after as a judge for Minnesota State High School League competitions and auditions. While at Oberlin, he was Instructor of Cello in both the Conservatory's String Preparatory Program and the Secondary Lesson Program. While residing in the Washington, D.C. area, he coached and conducted for the Washington D.C. Youth Orchestra Program, the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Capital Cello Circle.

An outspoken proponent for music and arts in education and the community at-large, Mr. Aerie serves on the Board of Directors for the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council and the Sacred Heart Music Center in Duluth. Additionally, he is Artistic Advisor to the Arrowhead Center for the Arts in Virginia, Minnesota. In September 2009 he was selected as a 20 Under 40 Award recipient in the Duluth News Tribune's annual recognition of 20 community leaders under the age of forty.