Samuel Coles was educated at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at the Paris Conservatoire winning the Premier Prix in 1987. His many other awards include first prize in both the Scheveningen International Flute Competition in Holland and the National Flute Association Young Artists Competition in San Diego and 2nd Prize in the Jean Pierre Rampal Competition 1987.

He has played guest principal with the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Opera de Paris, Orchestra de Radio France,and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He has performed as a soloist with the Orchestre de Paris, the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Residentiel Orchestra of the Hague and the English Chamber Orchestra, with whom he recorded all the Mozart Concertos under the direction of Sir Yehudi Menuhin. He is the principal flute in the Philharmonia Orchestra and in September takes up a teaching position at the Royal Academy of Music in London.