Crystal by Cirque du Soleil – Photos from Kelowna, Canada

As the Cirque du Soleil ice-skating show Crystal nears the end of its 6 year world tour, here are some behind-the-scenes and show photos from our run in Kelowna, Canada in May 2025. Performing with this show as bandleader and accordion has been an absolute pleasure with such wonderful cast and crew. This has been my third show with Cirque du Soleil. We performed across 5 continents for well over a million people. The adrenalin performances and travels across the world have been absolutely amazing. Thank you to Tegan Klein for the wonderful photos!

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Pope Trump – Life Imitates Art

UPDATE: My “Pope Trump” “First American Pope” video was released TWO DAYS before Trump said “I’d like to be pope”, FIVE DAYS before Trump’s official social media accounts posted an AI photo of himself as pope, and ELEVEN DAYS before the Vatican did indeed select the First American Pope? Can I see the future? Maybe…

On Monday, April 21st 2025, Pope Francis passed away. That night the thought occurred to me that Donald Trump, with his immense ego and lack of self-awareness, would probably want to be the new pope. I started working that night on a parody video of what it might look like if Donald Trump was The First American Pope.

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Watch “Pray Away” the musical on YouTube

Watch “Pray  Away” the musical on YouTube! Book, Music and Lyrics by Conrad Askland. This video is from the original 2019 community theater premiere at the Historic Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, WA USA

“Pray Away” delves into the challenging realm of gay conversion therapy, offering a raw and impactful portrayal. Experience the mix of entertainment and raw emotion that left audience members describing the show as both gut-wrenching and emotionally devastating.

No More Musical Theater from the musical PTGA

I’m finally starting to release some clips from my 2019 original musical “Pray Away”. This song “No More Musical Theater” is a turning point in the musical where it quickly switches from a comedy to a tragedy. This is the last of the “fun and games” moments in the script as we follow the journey of two boys going through gay conversion therapy.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more PTGA clips and other music video projects I’m working on at: https://www.youtube.com/@ConradAskland

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Cirque du Soleil CRYSTAL – Christmas 2023 in Montreal, Canada

Yes, that’s me (Conrad Askland) sitting at the ice piano during a performance of the Cirque du Soleil show CRYSTAL. (Photo by Caroline Thibault)

We just finished a wonderful two weeks performing in Montreal, Canada over Christmas with the Cirque du Soleil show CRYSTAL. Not only were the audiences wonderful to perform for, the cast of Crystal also got a private tour of the Cirque du Soleil International Headquarters in Montreal. Wonderful city. Wonderful audiences.

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New recording of Ave Verum Corpus by W.A. Mozart

Here is our new recording of Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus by the vocal quartet Tembresha. We recorded this in my living room at the tail end of the pandemic in December 2021. This was one of several groups I worked with in my home during the pandemic. During the pandemic I wasn’t able to perform publicly so I started working with people in my home as a way to keep my sanity and creativity alive.

Click the bottom right of the video “Watch on YouTube” to listen to it on my YouTube channel and also to read more about the singers, our recording and the history of Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus

Read more about the history of Ave Verum Corpus by W.A. Mozart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ave_verum_corpus_(Mozart)

You can also listen to this recording on your favorite streaming platform: https://social.tunecore.com/linkShare?linkid=kvv70yBgJXvm6qcaL8RFqg

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AI Just Said “Everything Will Be Okay” – What Happened Next?

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.

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Photos of Barcelona, Spain

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

 

Askland’s Romeo and Juliet musical translated into Chinese language

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.

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Interview with Berklee College of Music “Take Note” Online Magazine

 

Cirque du Soleil ‘Crystal’ Music Director Conrad Askland Q&A

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!

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