On Tour with Cirque du Soleil “CRYSTAL” Show

I’m currently on tour as Bandleader, Keyboards and Accordion with the Cirque du Soleil ice skating show “Crystal”. Thrilled to be back to performing and touring after the Covid shut down. The Crystal touring schedule link is posted below if you happen to be in any of the cities that we are performing in.

Cirque du Soleil “CRYSTAL” Touring Schedule:
https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/crystal

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Love Never Fails (Reprise) from PTGA

“Love Never Fails (Reprise)” from the musical Pray the Gay Away®. Music by Conrad Askland (ASCAP).

In the 2019 performance run, “Love Never Fails (Reprise)” was the closing song in my musical Pray the Gay Away®. The story is a very heart-felt project aimed at bringing an understanding of the painful world of gay conversion therapy to mainstream audience. The PTGA team and myself worked in partnership with PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) to bring support and awareness to our local audiences. We also provided a lot of information about The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ Youth Suicide Prevention) to our audiences with information in the programs and materials that The Trevor Project supplied to us.

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Agnus Dei Miserere

 

“Agnus Dei” music by Conrad Askland. Originally released by Road Records on the CD “New Faces Vol. 4”. Vocalists Carlotta Diggs (alto) and Karen Etheridge (soprano). Agnus Dei © 2001 Conrad Askland (ASCAP).

Some of my favorite Agnus Dei music is by Samuel Barber, Mozart and Schubert. As a child boy soprano I sang many masses by the great composers and always loved the sound of original Latin music texts. The Agnus Dei is traditionally one of the movements from the Catholic mass.

My version of the Agnus Dei was always intended as more of a character piece for film. I wrote it in 3/4 time with traditional orchestral snare rolls and cymbal crashes that I think gives it a slightly Viennese and aristocratic feel. Because of the aristocratic feel, I always pictured this song playing as an underscore to a screen element that is both dark and carefree. For example, a scene where The Joker is unleashing his mayhem with glee, when Hannibal Lecter is enjoying his glass of Chianti while his plans are unfolding, or yes, an underscore to Trump taking his mask off on the White House steps pretending he is Superman.

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The “I Like Chocolate” Song

Words and Music by Conrad Askland (ASCAP). “I Like Chocolate” © 2007 Conrad Askland.

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…

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Romeo and Juliet the musical – Online Premiere – Full Show (English)

I’m excited to announce that my musical “Romeo and Juliet” is now available to watch on YouTube (Full Show – English)

I composed the music for this stage production entirely to the original text of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. The RJ musical premiered on stage January-February 2015 at the Historic Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, WA. This video is from the live stage performance on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2015.

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Romeo and Juliet the musical – Video clips and music excerpts

“Quench the Fire” (Masquerade Dance #2) from Romeo and Juliet the musical. Book and Music by Conrad Askland. Lyrics by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet the musical © 2015 Conrad Askland.

I’ve just released additional video clips from my 2015 production of “Romeo and Juliet the musical”. The show opened January 30, 2015 at the Historic Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, WA.

MORE VIDEO CLIPS – SCROLL DOWN!

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You Don’t Even Know (That I’m in Love with You)

Music and Lyrics by Conrad Askland (ASCAP). “You Don’t Even Know” © 1997 Conrad Askland.

This song was released by Road Records on the CD “New Faces Volume Two”. The goal of this song was to create something that sounded like a retro jazz ballad. I remember this is one of the few recordings where I used an actual upright piano to play the keys parts. Normally I don’t use upright pianos because they’re always a tad out of tune, but that effect worked very well on this song to give it an authentic retro feel.

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