Joel von Lerber, serving as a faculty at the School of Music, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, is one of the leading harpists of his generation and is a frequent soloist with orchestras all around the world such as the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Izmir State Symphony Orchestra in Turkey, the State Hermitage Orchestra in St. Petersburg, the Mexico City Symphonic Orchestra, with the Orchestra Zrbranksa in Poland and with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra in Israel. He also performed with the Thüringer Symphoniker, the Brandenburger Symphoniker, the Philharmonisches Orchester Vorpommern, the Bavarian chamber orchestra Bad Brückenau, the Berner Kammerorchester, the Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden and l'Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois. For the season 2023/2024, he was an artist in residence with the Filharmonia Zielonogórska in Poland. Since September 2024, Joel von Lerber has taught at the School of Music of CUHK-Shenzhen.

At the age of six, Joel von Lerber began to take harp lessons at the Music Conservatory of Bern, Switzerland. He was taught by Nathalie Chatelain and Simon Bilger. He started his academic studies in 2009 at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel, Switzerland with Prof. Sarah O'Brien and gained his Bachelor of Arts in Music with honors in June 2012. In September 2012 he studied for a Master of Performance at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Zürich, Switzerland with Prof. Sarah O'Brien and gained a Master of Performance with honors in June 2014. In September 2014 he studied for a Master of Music at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, Germany with Prof. Maria Graf and gained a Master of Music with honors in June 2016. In September 2016 he continued his studies for the concert exam with Prof. Maria Graf and graduated in May 2019 with honours. His final exam in May 2019 was also his debut as a soloist with the Konzerthausorchester in the Konzerthaus of Berlin.

Joel received additional artistic guidance from renowned harpists such as Prof. Helga Storck, Isabelle Moretti, Jana Bouskova, Xavier de Maistre, and pianist Pavlin Nechev.

In 2008, he won the first prize and a special prize at the Swiss Youth Music Competition. In 2011 he was a first prize winner at the International Franz Josef Reinl-Stiftung Harp Contest. In November 2012 he was awarded the highly prestigious grant of the Migros Culture Foundation. In 2013 he won 3 prizes: 1st prize and Audience Award at the Louis Spohr Competition in Germany in June; 6th Prize at the USA International Harp Competition in Bloomington, IN in July; and in December he won again the highly doted Grant of the Migros Culture Foundation. In February 2014, he won a prestigious grant from DAAD for studies in Berlin, Germany, which has been renewed yearly. In September 2014, he participated in and won the 3rd Prize at the Golden Harp Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. In September 2015, he participated in the Michal Spisak International Music Competition in Dabrowa Gornicza (PL) and won the 2nd Prize and the Special Prize from the orchestra. In November 2017, he won the 2nd Prize at the 5th Mexico International Harp Competition. In November 2018, Joel won the 2nd Prize at the 20th International Harp Contest in Akko, Israel, and 2 special awards — one for the best interpretation of Bedrich Smetana's Moldau and another one for the best interpretation of the Israeli piece "Hed Meruchak" by Joseph Bardanashvili.

He gained additional experience as an orchestra player with the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, the Kammerorchester Bern, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival Orchestra, l'Orchestre de l'Opéra de Rouen, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Staatstheater Braunschweig, the Philharmonisches Orchester der Hansestadt Lübeck, and musicAeterna under the baton of Teodor Currentzis.