Samuel Macdonald is Glasgow-based composer, lyricist, and Musical Director

I’m a composer, writer and musical director based in Glasgow. I am a graduate of Cambridge University and the musical directing course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where I worked as Assistant Musical Director of Merrily We Roll Along and Musical Director of Edges, as well as various cabarets and student showcases. Most recently, I was composer and musical director of SAVOY! at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024. I have also worked extensively with young people, as a cover teacher at Stagecoach Glasgow, and as musical director of Into The Woods Jr at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022.

I have composed music and written lyrics for musicals, operas, plays, and pantomimes, working with the Cambridge Footlights, Cambridge University Opera Society, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and I have recently been training as a lyricist through “BOOK, Music, & Lyrics” workshops. In February 2024, I co-founded Matchstick Productions with my primary writing partner Mairead Dunsmore, and I have written music and lyrics for cabarets and workshops aimed at producing our two-hander The Perfect Match.

My musical and lyrical styles draw on a broad pallet of genres, matching style and technique to character and storytelling.