Samuel Mcilmoyle is a young composer from the North Coast of Northern Ireland. He is a self taught multi-instrumentalist and has been composing and orchestrating from a very young age. Music has always been a big part of his DNA growing up. He has recently become a Musical Director in Trinity Presbyterian, Ballymoney.
In 2019 he began studying a degree in Audio Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast before graduating with First Class Honours in 2022. Throughout his time at university he worked on many local projects such as “The Poppy Song” which he orchestrated and produced for the 2020 Remembrance Day Poppy Appeal in NI. This video has become one of the most viewed videos on the page. Samuel has gone on to further study with a Masters Degree in Orchestration for Film, Games and Television which will be completed in May 2024.
During the Covid pandemic, Mcilmoyle Audio began working with many schools in NI to record and produce a video version of their school productions which unfortunately could not be viewed by audiences in person. This type of work is one of a number of services provided by Samuel. He is a composer who uses a more traditional orchestral approach and his style is particularly suited to story telling and pieces that depict emotional moments. Samuel has provided orchestration of hymns for a small ensemble that plays with him in his job at Trinity as well as orchestrating for the Dixie jazz band in his school which he lead in his sixth form years.
During his earlier life at secondary school, Samuel was a very active musician who played in a wide variety of ensembles including the school chamber choir which came runner up in the 2018 BBC School Choir of the Year NI competition. He was percussionist in the school orchestra and in the pit band for the “Hairspray” school production before swapping the playing role for an acting one instead playing ‘Tevye’ in “Fiddler on the Roof”. These opportunities have provided Samuel with a wealth of experience that is beyond his years.
Samuel is also a leader in a youth work charity organisation called “Wildfire” which released a debut album this year that he co-composed, orchestrated and produced in its entirety during the summer of 2023.