News 

September 2018

Cello with Dave Matthews and David Campbell, Hollywood Bowl, Sept 10 2018. Song ‘Here On Out’ Arr D.Campbell

July 2018

Dave Matthews, Strings written and Arranged for the No.1 Album ‘Come Tomorrow’

Strings Arranged for Dave Matthews album Come Tomorrow. Songs ‘Come On Come On’, ‘When Im Waery’ & ‘Come Tomorrow’

February 2018

SIA  -  "DEER IN HEADLIGHTS' SONG ARRANGED AND PRODUCED FOR THE FILM 'FIFTY SHADES FREED'

February 2017

SIA - 'HELIUM' SONG ARRANGED AND PRODUCED

FOR FILM 'FIFTY SHADES DARKER'

Nov 2016

SIA - 'Jesus Wept' song arranged and produced

for album 'this is acting' (deluxe)

June 2016

SIA - 'UNFORGETTABLE' COVER ARRANGED, PRODUCED AND CONDUCTED FOR THE FILM 'FINDING'DORY'

December 2015

STRINGS WRITTEN, ARRANGED AND DIRECTED FOR ADELE'S Grammy Winning ALBUM '25'

SONG 'LOVE YOU IN THE DARK' 

May 2015

Production of song 'california dreaming' with Sia

for san andreas soundtrack

March 2015

SONG 'SALTED WOUND' CO-WRITTEN AND PRODUCED WITH SIA

FOR 50 SHADES OF GREY

Oct 2015

LIVE EUROPEAN TOUR WITH TOM MCRAE

June 2015

 STRINGS, ARRANGED & PLAYED for the song 'Conductor' by

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE

Jan 2015

Strings arranged and cello played for SIA,

'Chandelier' on SNL Live

Nov 2014

Cello WITH PRICILLA AHN ASIA TOUR 

Cellos Played on Title song 'Fine On The Outside' by Priscilla Ahn for the Animated Film 'When Marnie Was There' 

May 2013

Song 'Kill And Run' Co-Produced for Sia on the Soundtrack of The Great Gatsby

Nov 2010

SONG 'MY LOVE', Co-Written and Produced  with Sia for film Twilight Eclipse

Composition

As a Composer Oliver has released his own instrumental album, Sound Bites, a sonic exploration for Piano & Cello (2006) and is currently working on a  collection of Multi Speaker Sonic Soundscapes for Galleries and the VR world.

listen to excerpts from sound bites on the short film 'stanley' Dir Mike Hawley 2007

Piano Cello Replies Drift

Installation exhibited at 'The Big Art Church' grand opening, 08/03/2015

“With this installation I have been exploring the relationship of contrasting improvised chords and their sonic/tonal interplay within a space.

The piece was composed on the piano with an initial improvisation exploring the vibrating tonal interplay within a sustained chord cluster. A second Improvisation or reply was added to explore the reciprocal relationship between opposing chords and their respective sonic oscillation. (ex.1 Piano Replies study 3)

Due to the improvisational nature of the piece there is an element of chance created in the way the chords relate and vibrate together, removing the artist from a calculated outcome. However an awareness of optimism and discovery was apparent with my choice of chords within the improvisation.

I chose to use sustained cello notes to mirror the piano chords in an attempt to explore an alternate sound source and it’s resulting effect.

To bring the focus of the piece on the tonal/vibration oscillation I have ‘neutered’ the identity of the piano and cello by removing the attack of the chord (the hammer hit) and the bow attack. With the cello I also refrained from playing any vibrato or human expression from the performance to help mirror the simplicity of the decaying piano chords bringing focus on the sonic relationship of the sustained tones.

As a Composer/Performer I have enjoyed exploring multiple sound sources within a space as an inspiring natural way to experience sound. 
Despite the use of surround sound in Theatres and Cinema we have become all too accustomed to experiencing sound/music from a static two speaker stereo source.

As an installation the chord sources are played from opposing sides of a space, giving the listener an evolving experience as they move around the space. The true effect of the installation and most exciting element for me is the effect on the listeners’ spatial perception as they cross the center of the space where the two chords mesh.

The Installation can be explored with any number of speakers from 4 at its simplest to 12 with each speaker having its own cello note.

The installation can sit equally well in a silent space as it can as an accompaniment to a space or gallery where observing artwork and conversation can be enjoyed without obvious interruption.

soundscape

Show

Film And TV Music

Film

After striking up a writing partnership with ‘The Cure’ drummer Jason Cooper in 1995, Oliver co-wrote several Film scores for the Director Daniel Simpson before writing and producing the score to From Within, a film directed by Phedon Papamichael, which won the Grand Jury Award for Best Music Score at the Solstice Film Festival, 2008.

Oliver has continued to write for Film and Co-Write/Produce Songs for Film Soundtracks

Film Credits include:

-     Finding Dory Dir Andrew Stanton, Song "Unforgettable' Arranged, Produced and Conducted for Sia 2016

-     San Andreas Dir Brad Peyton, Song 'California Dreaming' Produced for Sia 2015

-     Fifty Shades Of Grey dir Sam Taylor-Johnson, Song 'Salted Wound' Co-Written and Produced for Sia 2015

-     The Great Gatsby dir Baz Luhrmann, Song 'Kill And Run' Produced for Sia 2013

-     Without Gorky dir Cosima Spender, Score Co-Written with Jason Cooper and Matteo Cipollina 2012

-       Twilight Eclipse dir. David Slade, song ‘My Love’ co-written and Produced with Sia Furler, 2010

-       From Within, dir. Phedon Papamichael, 2008 Music Score co-written and Produced with Jason Cooper, winner of Grand Jury Award for         Best Music Score at the Solstice Film Festival

-       Joybells, dir. Mike Hawley, Music score written and produced. 2007 

-       The Power of the Game, dir. Michael Apted, 2007  Cues Written for score.

-       Spiderhole, dir. Daniel Simpson, Music score co-written and Produced with Jason Cooper, 2009

-       The Uninvited, dir. Daniel Simpson, Music score co-written and Produced with Jason Cooper, 1999

-       ‘h’ dir, Daniel Simpson, Music score co-written and Produced with Jason Cooper,  1995

-       Handle With Care, dir, Alexis Bowler & Sandy Hunt, WWF 1992, Co-written with Antony Wilkins & Miriam Kaufman. Awards: Winner             Best Children’s Program at Chicago International Children's Film Festival; New England Children's Film festival; British Animation                 Week, National Film Theatre, London; Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Television

From 1999, Oliver developed a relationship with the BBC’s Documentary department scoring music for:

BBC1’s prime time investigative journalism series, ‘Macintyre Investigates’ featuring BAFTA nominated investigative reporter, Donal Macintyre  2002-2003 7 episodes

BBC1’s ‘Whistleblowers’ series. 2004-2006 12 episodes

And BBC1’s flagship documentary series, ‘Panorama’

From 2003-2007 Oliver teamed up again with writing partner Jason Cooper to score music for the BBC Wildlife Documentary series ‘The Natural World’. Here they worked with Simon King on several documentary films  

Other Television work includes:

Discovery channel series, ‘What’s the Big Idea’ 2003

C4 Despatches documentary film ‘The battle with my brain’ 2004   

Television music score credits include:

-       Toki's Tale                                         Natural World                   BBC 2                            2007

-       Meercats                                           Natural World                   BBC 2                            2003

-       What's the Big Idea                       Series                                    Discovery Ch              2004

-       Cheetahs                                           Natural World                   BBC 2                             2005

-       The Battle with my Brain             Despatches                         C4                                   2005

-       Dogfighting                                       Panorama                             BBC 1                            2007  

-       Macintyre Investigates                 Series 7  episodes             BBC 1                            2002-3

-       Whistleblowers                               Series 12 episodes            BBC 1                            2004-6

 Listen to Soundtrack cross section:-

Watch Clips :-

STRING ARRANGEMENT

OLIVER HAS WRITTEN AND ARRANGED STRINGS FOR:

-       Adele’s No 1 GRAMMY winning album 25

-       Beth Orton's critically acclaimed, gold selling album, Trailer Park 1996

-     Sia's Album Some People Have Real Problems and This Is Acting (Deluxe)

-     Florence And The Machine's Album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. Song 'Conductor' (Target exclusive)

-       Christina Aguilera’s No.1 Album, Bionic 2010 and Golden Globe nominated song from the film Burlesque 'Bound To You'

-       Duffy's debut, double platinum selling album, Rockferry 2008

-       Ash's Platinum selling Award winning album, Free all Angels 2001           

-       Jake Bugg’s No 1 debut album 2012

-       Other artists include Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson, Pink, Colbie Caillat & Gavin Degraw, Mandy Moore, Lifehouse, The View,             Tom McRae, Joshua Radin, The Weepies, Thea Gilmore, Marc Almond, My Life Story, Cary Brothers, Meiko, Lenka, Tracey Thorn,               Priscilla Ahn, James Blunt, Rachael Yamagata and {more} 

Live

As a Cellist Oliver has toured and recorded extensively worldwide for many acclaimed artists such as Beth Orton, Sia, Tom McRae, Joshua Radin, Rachael Yamagata, Duffy, and My Life Story. Oliver has also performed live and recorded with numerous other artists including Paul Weller, Ash, David Gray, Mike Scott, Alexi Murdoch, BellX1, Ed Harcourt, The Tindersticks, and Howard Jones. {more}

His work has also given him the opportunity to appear on many television and radio shows such as Top of the Pops, Jools Holland, The Graham Norton Show, Live from Abbey Road, TFI Friday, The White Room, The Jonathan Ross BBC Radio 2 Show, Loose Ends BBC Radio 4, Taratata, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectric, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Saturday Night Live, and David Letterman.

Tom McRae European Tour

oct 2015

LIVE ASIA TOUR WITH PRIsCILLA AHN

Nov 2014

Sia, extensive world tours

2006-2011

Biography

Oliver Kraus

Oliver was born into a musical family in Shepherds Bush, London on the 24th of November 1970. From a young age with the encouragement of his mother, a Violin teacher and leader of the Guildford symphony orchestra, he took up Piano and Cello, developing his skill and passion for music. In 1984 Oliver was awarded the top Music Scholarship at Cranleigh School where he studied the Cello with Caroline Dale.  Focused study was rewarded with the position of Principal cello in the Surrey County Youth Orchestra helping to broaden his orchestral experience and development with 6 years of concerts and tours including performances in the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. As a contrast to his classical roots, Oliver founded his own band at school, playing keyboards and exploring synth based electronica.

After graduating with ‘A’ levelMusic, Art and Government & Politics, Oliver attended Kingston University where he focused on Music, composition and studio technology. Oliver took an active role as principal cellist in the orchestra and chamber orchestra, won a composition prize initiated by APRS, wrote the score for an award winning WWF animation ‘Handle with care’, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in 1992.

After university, Oliver tenaciously pursued a career in music as a composer and performer.  He combined touring worldwide as a cellist in folk/rock bands with composing music for BBC and C4 documentaries and regular recording sessions with his String Quartet ‘Browndog’. It was through this combination that Oliver’s strength as an arranger came to the fore, writing arrangements for many of the bands he was touring with including Beth Orton, My Life Story, Tom McRae, Duffy and Sia.

After striking up a writing partnership with ‘The Cure’ drummer Jason Cooper in 1995, Oliver co-wrote several Film scores for the Director Daniel Simpson before writing and producing the score to‘From Within’, a film directed by Phedon Papamichael, which won the Grand Jury Award for Best Music Score at the Solstice Film Festival, 2008.

As a composer, Oliver released his own instrumental album, ‘Sound Bites’ for Piano and Cello in 2006.  He continues to write original music, arrange and produce for Film, and work as a session cellist on many Rock, Pop and Folk recordings and Tours.

More recently he co-wrote and produced the song ‘My Love’ with Sia Furler  for the film ‘Twilight Eclipse’, Directed by David Slade, 2010, Produced and arranged the song ‘Kill And Run’ by Sia featured on the sound track for ‘The Great Gatsby’, Directed by Baz Luhrmann, 2013 and Co-wrote and produced the track ‘Salted Wound’ for the film ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ 2015

Oliver is currently writing original multi speaker sonic soundscapes for VR and his new Album. He is also developing atmospheric music for VR  meditation with Chris Holmes DJ, in Los Angeles, California.