Josh Mountford is a highly accomplished and versatile British cellist, whose musical journey began at a young age through leading youth orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the CBSO Youth Orchestra, where he performed as Principal Cellist.
Josh has since performed with a wide range of professional orchestras, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the NSO, and Orpheus Sinfonia, and is a proud member of the Paraorchestra, where he frequently appears as Principal Cellist, including for the 2025 BBC Proms. He also worked with Manchester Camerata in 2022 as part of their Professional Experience Scheme, an opportunity that further enriched his orchestral craft during his studies in Manchester.
Josh holds a Master of Arts in Performance from the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with Distinction in 2024 under the tutelage of Professor Jo Cole. Prior to this, he studied with Professor Hannah Roberts at the Royal Northern College of Music, graduating with a First Class Honours BMus in 2022. His earlier training was at Chetham’s School of Music, where he studied with Nicholas Jones.
Alongside his orchestral career, Josh is an active chamber musician and ensemble director. He is the founding director of Petford Ensemble, established in 2019 and performing regularly across the UK and Europe for weddings, corporate events and recital engagements. In addition to performing, Josh is responsible for the ensemble’s administration and logistics, acting as principal fixer and overseeing musician booking, contracts, scheduling and client liaison. Under his direction, the ensemble operates flexibly from providing soloists through to string quartets, combining exceptionally high musical standards with a strong emphasis on professionalism and organisation.
Josh is also a member of the award-winning Bauhaus Piano Trio, recipients of the RNCM Nossek Prize (2022). In 2023, he returned to Chetham’s School of Music to lead an intensive side-by-side project with the Riedl Quartet, culminating in a performance at the Carol Nash Recital Hall.
He has performed at many of the UK’s most prestigious venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican Centre, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Sage Gateshead, as well as internationally at Berlin’s Konzerthaus. In April 2024, Josh performed the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Gorton Philharmonic in Manchester.
Josh has participated in masterclasses with many distinguished cellists, including Steve Doane, Bruno Delepelaire, Robert Cohen, Sung-Won Yang, Miklós Perényi and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. His achievements have been recognised with numerous awards, including the Shirley Catterall Award (2022), the Guilhermina Development Award, the James Langley Memorial Trust Award, and Postgraduate Awards from Help Musicians UK in both 2022/23 and 2023/24.
Josh’s versatility extends beyond traditional classical settings. He performs on electric cello and keyboards with the Forever Elton tribute band, touring extensively across the UK and Europe, and is active as a session musician for film and television. Recent and selected credits include The Chocolate Club (2025), Beneath the Silence, The Sun Also Rises (2022), Breakdown (2016) and Vendetta (2014).
New for 2026, Josh is a founding member and Creative Director of Cinematic Ensemble, a chamber-sized group created to present film and modern cinematic music in concert settings. Within the ensemble, he performs as a cellist and multi-instrumentalist while also leading artistic direction, programme development and logistical coordination, bringing together strings, woodwind, vocals, keyboards and electronic elements to authentically realise contemporary film scores.
Josh performs on a Robin Aitchison Montagnana-model cello, supported by several generous awards towards its acquisition, and is a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians.