Oliver Coates

Oliver Coates (born in London in 1982) is a British cellist, film composer, music producer and electronic musician.

Career
Born in London in 1982, Oliver Coates took up the cello at the age of six. He went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he received the highest score ever awarded to a student.

After graduating there, he worked with Massive Attack, Goldie, Ben Frost, Micachu & the Shapes and the Icelandic postrock band Sigur Rós. In 2009, he worked as a cellist with the South African Mira Calix on a new recording of a song by Boards of Canada for a compilation on Warp Records. This was followed by collaboration with the guitarist Jonny Greenwood for the music to the Paul Thomas Anderson films There Will Be Blood and The Master. He worked with Mica Levi, on the music for the science fiction thriller Under the Skin by Jonathan Glazer and her 2017 album Remain Calm.

Coates also worked with the British rock band Radiohead for their studio album A Moon Shaped Pool, released in 2016. In the same year, he released the album Remain Calm and his solo album entitled "Upstepping" together with Levi. In 2018, Coates released his third solo album with "Shelley's On Zenn-la" (full-length).

He also composed the music for the films Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar with Sam Yates, The Stranger with Thomas M. Wright and Aftersun with Charlotte Wells. He worked with Steve McQueen on his documentary Occupied City.

Coates is the main cellist of the London Contemporary Orchestra and lives in Scotland, where he also works.

Albums

 * 2013: Towards The Blessed Islands
 * 2016: Upstepping
 * 2016: Remain Calm
 * 2016: Sudden Light
 * 2018: Shelley's On Zenn-la
 * 2018: Ample Profanity
 * 2020: Skins N Slime
 * 2022: Significant Other (Music From The Motion Picture)
 * 2022: The pale faced family on the hill

Filmography

 * 2019: Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar
 * 2022: Significant Other
 * 2022: The Stranger
 * 2022: Aftersun
 * 2023: Enemy 
 * 2024:  Mary & George (Miniseries)

Awards

 * 2022: British Independent Film Awards – Nomination for Best Original music  for Aftersun
 * 2011: Award with the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award