Here’s a SoundCloud audio link to an interview I did with 89.7 FM in Perth, Western Australia with Sue Myc. She interviews musicians local to Perth, WA and included me in her lineup on September 13, 2023 a couple days before our show Crystal by Cirque du Soleil opened in Perth at the RAC Arena. I’m the bandleader, accordion and keyboards for the Cirque du Soleil Crystal ice skating show.
And ironically, I met Sue Myc the week before in Perth while attending a live concert of Post Modern Jukebox (and it was an AWESOME concert!)
This is the first of a series of videos I have created as part of my latest project called “Discuss AI”
Over the last several weeks I’ve been learning about and working with artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGTP, BrainTrust AI, Google Bard and Typecast AI. I created several simple videos while learning about it; videos on my YouTube channel that are overviews of the music of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. I knew that I wanted to do something with AI and that those videos were just a vehicle to learn more about it.
Photos from my two weeks in Barcelona, Spain playing music for the Cirque du Soleil ice skating show Crystal. After taking photos in Lisbon I wanted to improve my photography so these are my first photos with my Sony A7 iv camera (and a G-Master 35mm f1.4 lens). Special thanks to professional photographer Diego Patitucci for giving me tips on night photography with my new camera
My musical of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been translated to Chinese! This work was done by a Chinese student majoring in Linguistics who goes by the handle “CocoKissh”. We did some Zoom meetings preparing for the project and that was really fun working between Seattle, WA and Beijing, China. Read more for additional info and link to the Chinese language subtitles to my Romeo and Juliet musical.
In June of 2022 I was interviewed for the Berklee College of Music “Take Note” Online Magazine by Freesla Towle. “In this interview, Conrad Askland discusses live music production for Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Crystal,’ his time at Berklee Online, and conveying empathy with his original musicals.”
I was also able to tour the campus at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and also do a Q&A session with Berklee students studying Music Marketing. Thank you so much to Berklee College of Music for your warm hospitality and the opportunity to interact with students. And as a side note, I loved Boston and did many historical throughout the city. What a wonderful city Boston is!
June 2021 – It’s safe to say that Conrad Askland is not your average artist and composer. His creativity transcends “traditional” music release formats, in favor of a broader approach, which touches so many different genres and influences. From pop and uptempo folk-inspired dance music, down to musical theatre and plays, anything goes. Conrad has recently released a brand new project, Romeo and Juliet (The Musical). Any theatre enthusiast will tell you that tacking a Willam Shakespeare work is not easy, especially when it comes to turning such a well-known classic into a musical with a different twist! Thankfully, Conrad really managed to accomplish something amazing with this one, and listeners won’t be disappointed, even those who might not be familiar with the original version of Romeo and Juliet! If anything, this adaptation could be a great incentive for someone to go and pick up the collected works of The Bard! This happens to be Conrad’s third full-length musical theater project, and it still stands out as one of his most distinctive achievements. Although the musical play premiered in 2015, it was released as a full-length Youtube Video over at the artist’s official channel, linked at the bottom of this article.
This amazing project is a perfect example of what it’s like to produce great musical theatre pieces with a focus on great scoring inspired by neoclassical music composers.
I ascribe by the motto of “What was funny in third grade will always be funny.” This is MAYBE the silliest song I’ve ever written, and I’ve written a LOT of very silly songs.
I almost never write a song “just to write a song.” There’s always a reason for a song when I write it. I’m very utilitarian, or practical, in that way. “I Like Chocolate” was written for a very specific reason: to make third-graders laugh. And here’s the story all about that…
The lyrics for my rendition of the Lord’s Prayer are from Matthew 6:9-13 which cover through “but deliver us from all evil.” As Wikipedia would have you know: “Other ancient authorities add, in some form, For the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours forever. Amen.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s_Prayer
We recorded this song in Prague, Czech Republic in 2017 while performing music for the world tour of Varekai by Cirque du Soleil. David was violinist in Varekai and I was the Bandleader and Keyboardist.
Post-COVID I’ve decided to release more of my music library online and that includes over 260 rap beats and instrumentals that I produced for Rap Track back in 1999-2004. The new YouTube channel for some of these rap instrumentals is currently called Rap Dogs Rap Beats.
