Madeleine Skye Ackley

Biography

Musician. Friend. Leader. A nervous twenty-something who runs into their ex at a furry convention and then gets mauled by a bear. An older sister who reconnects with her sister by creating elaborate, comedic murder mysteries. A 15th Century witch who glues herself to a chair and curses llamas to talk. All of these can — well — some of these can be used to describe me, some are characters I’ve written. One is both. But I’m not telling you which is which.

I wrote my first song when I was two years old, called “Squeak it Down.” It was a simple little ditty that didn’t have much meaning to it, but it got people to dance, so I’d consider that a win. My formal musical training began with piano lessons when I was seven, and I became hooked. I started taking songwriting more seriously when I was 11 and released an EP at thirteen with songs, all detailing stories of my own life. As I continued to write, my stories became more and more complex. My second EP, “Don’t Bite,” released in 2018, features “Mr. Wolf Man,” a song about a completely original werewolf character, having been released from prison, going out to clubs with a friend. It also features my first original instrumental piece, a prog rock foray called, “The Wizards’ March.” It uses themes to detail the journeys of the wizards of Middle Earth.

Speaking of instrumentals, I discovered my love for film music at the age of 12 after watching “The Lord of the Rings.” I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Film and Media Scoring with a minor in Musical Theater Writing from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in 2023. Getting to compose and conduct my own music to picture has been a greatly rewarding experience.

In 2024, I received a Master's of Arts in Creative Media and Technology, specializing in Writing and Design for Musical Theater from Berklee NYC. My thesis musical, "The Boy Who Painted the Sky," with music by myself, and book and lyrics by Katie Brady and Harrison Lewis, was presented at Power Station in June 2024.

I have been writing musicals for the past three years. My love for musicals began at the age of seven when I was in a production of "Grease Jr." and it hasn't stopped since. Since studying at Berklee, I declared the Musical Theater Writing minor, which has informed my career goals more than anything else. I composed the music for a short musical called "Ants! The Musical," with lyricist and bookwriter Charlotte Sessions, and wrote a musical based on the religious implications of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," called "Mary Had a Lamb Tattoo."

I have orchestrated songs for every musical I have written, and for many other songs and showcases. My orchestrations have spanned several genres and instrumentations and I love creating sonic landscapes.