Yair Elazar Glotman is a composer and musician based in Berlin.
He releases solo music and composes film scores, Including original scores for Louis Leterrier's Netflix sci-fi thriller The Last House, Grant Singer's Netflix thriller Reptile, A24's False Positive (co-composed with Lucy Railton), and Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Last and First Men. Beyond his lead scoring work, Glotman has contributed contrabass recordings, additional music, and arrangements to major film productions, including the Academy Award–winning scores for Joker and All Quiet on the Western Front, as well as works for stage productions such as the Royal Opera House in London. His practice across film, performance, and recording is anchored in his background as an orchestral contrabass player and electroacoustic composer, utilizing extended instrumental techniques, improvisation, and combined analog and digital processing.
Early life Glotman studied orchestral double bass at the Berlin University of the Arts under Prof. Michael Wolf. He later expanded his studies to include electroacoustic composition as well as media and sound art under Prof. Dr. phil. Alberto de Campo. He completed his Meisterschule degree in 2015
Musical career In recent years, Glotman has been increasingly composing for film and media, all the while continuing to release music under his own name and in collaboration with other composers.
Film and TV score work Glotman’s work for film has included co-composing False Positive (2021) with Lucy Railton, an A24 production written by Ilana Glazer and John Lee. In 2018, he began collaborating with the influential, late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson on his directorial debut Last and First Men, developing the film score and recording for him. Glotman also worked with him as additional music composer for Mandy (2018) and recorded for other projects. After Jóhannsson's passing, Glotman was tasked with co-composing and producing the score of Last and First Men. The film premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020, and the soundtrack album was released by Deutsche Grammophon. He went on to compose the original score for Grant Singer’s 2023 Netflix film noir thriller Reptile, starring Benicio del Toro, and Louis Leterrier's 2026 Netflix sci-fi thriller The Last House, starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura. Beyond his original scoring work, Glotman has contributed as a contrabass soloist, instrumentalist, and additional composer to major scores by other creators, including the Academy Award-winning scores for Hildur Guðnadóttir's Joker (2019) and Volker Bertelmann's All Quiet on the Western Front (2022).
Solo Work Under his own name, Glotman has released music that is directly tied to his training and relationship with the double bass. Études (2015) was an attempt at disrupting the learned habits of playing a classical instrument and exploring hidden resonances, physical vibrations, and the outer edges of the instrument's acoustic dynamic range. Compound (2017) expands these experiments to a trio, adding pianist Rieko Okuda and percussionist Marcello Silvio Busato into the musical conversation.
His subsequent solo releases under his own name include Speculative Memories (2022) on Scrawl Recordings. He is signed as a solo recording artist to Universal Music Publishing Decca / Classics & Screen.
Glotman’s solo projects include KETEV, a dark techno / Ambient project under which he released albums on the labels Opal Tapes, Where To Now? and Portals Editions. In addition, he has released under Blessed Initiative, an Electroacoustic project on the label Subtext.
Collaborations Glotman has worked closely with musical collaborators. Together with Swedish composer Mats Erlandsson he has released three albums, and with Icelandic violinist and composer Viktor Orri Árnason he has released an album on the Icelandic Label Bedroom Community.
Discography
TitleAlbum detailsNimbes (with James Ginzburg) Released: January 11, 2014 Label: SubtextKETEV (as Ketev) Released: March 29, 2014 Label: Opal TapesNorthern Gulfs Released: April 1, 2014 Label: Glacial MovementsSingular Stare (as Ketev) Released: August 4, 2014 Label: Where To Now?Études Released: July 25, 2015 Label: SubtextTraces Of Weakness (as Ketev) Released: January 15, 2016 Label: Where To Now?I Know No Weekend (as Ketev) Released: July 1, 2016 Label: Portals EditionsBlessed Initiative (as Blessed Initiative) Released: October 18, 2016 Label: SubtextNegative Chambers (with Mats Erlandsson) Released: July 13, 2018 Label: MiasmahCompound Released: October 6, 2017 Label: SubtextVast (with Viktor Orri Árnason) Released: August 30, 2019 Label: Bedroom CommunityLast and First Men (with Jóhann Jóhannsson) Released: February 28, 2020 Label: Deutsche GrammophonEmanate (with Mats Erlandsson) Released: May 15, 2020 Label: FatCat RecordsSpeculative Memories Released: October 27, 2022 Label: SA RecordingsGlory Fades (with Mats Erlandsson) Released: January 17, 2025 Label: XKatedral
Filmography Year Film Director Credits 2026 The Last House Louis Leterrier Composer 2023 Reptile Grant Singer Composer 2020 False Positive John Lee Composer 2019 Last and First Men Jóhann Jóhannsson Composer 2018 Mandy Panos Cosmatos Composer, additional music 2018 My Unknown Soldier Anna Kryvenko Composer
Awards and nominations YearAwardNominationFilmResultNotes2021Edda AwardBest MusicLast and First MenNominatedShared with Jóhann Jóhannsson2022ASCAP Screen Music AwardOriginal Score in Streaming FilmFalse PositiveWonShared with Lucy Railton
External links Official website
Yair Elazar Glotman discography on Discogs Yair Elazar Glotman on AllMusic Artist Page on the label 130701 Yair Elazar Glotman Interview for Deutsche Grammophone about Last and First Men Last and First Men on the Label Deutsche Grammophone Pitchfork review on Glotman's album 'Blessed Initiative' The Quietus review on Glotman's album 'I Know No Weekend'
References