Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Trans-Siberian Orchestra
TSO Concert in November 2007
Background information
Also known as	TSO
Origin	New York City, USA
Genres	Symphonic Metal[1][2][3] Progressive Metal[2][4] Classical
Years active	1996–present
Associated acts	Savatage Testament Alex Skolnick Trio Megadeth Circle II Circle Metal Church
Website	Official Website
Members
Paul O'Neill Jon Oliva Robert Kinkel Al Pitrelli
Former members
See: Trans-Siberian Orchestra member history

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (often abbreviated as TSO) is an orchestra founded in 1996 by Paul O'Neill, who brought together long-time friends Jon Oliva, Robert Kinkel, and Al Pitrelli. The band's musical style incorporates progressive rock, symphonic metal, and heavy metal, with influences from classical music.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra has recorded and performed renditions of traditional Christmas songs, and these have been among their most popular works. They are also known for their elaborate concerts, complete with a full light show and dozens of pyrotechnics that are synchronized with their performance.

Biography

Trans-Siberian Orchestra was founded in 1996 in New York City by composer Paul O'Neill who approached long-time friends Jon Oliva, Robert Kinkel, and Al Pitrelli. The group's name is inspired by the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia, which Kinkel says connects many cultures otherwise isolated, much like music.

O'Neill had managed and produced rock bands including Aerosmith, Humble Pie, and Scorpions, later writing for and producing Savatage, where he began working with Kinkel and Oliva. The concept for a band playing Christmas carols in a rock opera style was not received warmly by the industry,^{[citation needed]} but quickly proved a success with adults as well as young people.

Roger Daltrey closing out a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.

In the recording studio, Trans-Siberian Orchestra uses a full 60-piece orchestra and a choir. As of 2004, their touring band included 14 vocalists, 14 musicians, and 2 narrators.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra released their debut album Christmas Eve and Other Stories in 1996, and it remains their best-selling album. From then on, TSO cover arts are painted by popular artist Greg Hildebrandt. Their 1998 release The Christmas Attic was similarly a concept album with a Christmas theme. This album featured what remains one of their most recognizable songs, Christmas Canon, a take on Pachelbel's Canon in D.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra played their first live show in Philadelphia, Pennsyvlania in 1999. In 2000, they released their first non-Christmas album, Beethoven's Last Night, a concept album about Ludwig van Beethoven's last night on earth, during which he meets Fate, her son Twist, and Mephistopheles. Sales of their long-promised album, Night Castle, have begun with a full album release in October 2009. Night Castle is a two-CD set and pre-release sales include a download of five tracks in MP3 format.

After several years of touring, they returned to the studio and subsequently released another full-length album, The Lost Christmas Eve, and the accompanying DVD/3-CD release The Christmas Trilogy, which contained all three of their Christmas albums to date.

TSO in concert, December 8, 2006.

The 2005 TSO tour placed 21st on the list of the most successful concert tours of the year, earning just over US$21 million.^[5] The string section comprises local musicians. Live shows are known for their extensive use of pyrotechnics, lasers & lights synchronized with the performance, all of which takes 15 hours to set up.^[6]

Shows are divided into two halves: the first consisting of the story and songs of Christmas Eve and Other Stories, the second a mix of songs from The Christmas Attic, Beethoven's Last Night, The Lost Christmas Eve, and a few miscellaneous covers (that in the past have included "Layla", "Immigrant Song", and "Proud Mary"), finishing with a reprise of "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24. The 2008 tour also featured a 2-song Savatage selection ("Prelude to Madness" from Hall of the Mountain King and "Believe" from Streets: A Rock Opera", though only the East touring company played both songs; the West company, for reasons unknown, only performed "Prelude To Madness".

	Trans-Siberian Orchestra "Wizards in Winter" (2004) "Wizards in Winter" exhibits the rock orchestra style of Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
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Night Castle is a non-Christmas album of Trans-Siberian Orchestra that was released on October 27, 2009. It includes a version of "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, which was previewed live by the band during their 2004-2008 tours. It also contains four rewritten versions of previous Savatage songs as well as Nutrocker, a song most famously made by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, with Greg Lake on bass guitar.

TSO tours and touring groups

Trans-Siberian Orchestra first took the show on the road in 1999, with a handful of concerts in Philadelphia, New York City, Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit. The next year, two separate touring groups were formed to allow the band to cover more ground in the short holiday timeframe. TSO has maintained the two-group format since then, and by the 2008 tour, both groups were on the road from the beginning of November to the first week in January. The two touring groups are informally known as TSO East and TSO West, although these descriptions are not entirely literal; before 2008, for example, TSO West historically played in Atlanta and Florida. Both groups have appeared in Midwestern cities such as Chicago and Indianapolis.

The 2008 touring groups were as follows.^[7]

Members (past, present and touring only)

Composer

• Paul O'Neill - Composer, lyricist, producer
• Jon Oliva - Composer
• Robert Kinkel - Co-Producer, Keyboards, music director
• Al Pitrelli - Guitars, music director

Vocals

• Adrienne Warren
• James Lewis
• Tommy Farese
• Anthony Gaynor (also Narrator)
• Alexa Goddard
• Kristin Lewis Gorman
• Erin Henry
• Steena Hernandez
• Jay Pierce
• Bart Shatto
• Brad Lewis
• Steve Broderick
• Danielle Landherr
• Andrew Ross
• Scout (Scout Ford)
• Bryan Hicks (also Narrator)
• Jeff Scott Soto
• Tim Hockenberry
• Jamey Garner
• Valentina Porter

Guitar

• Al Pitrelli
• Chris Caffery
• Alex Skolnick
• Angus Clark
• Jon Bivona

Bass

• Johnny Lee Middleton
• Chris Altenhoff
• John Weir

Drums

• Jeff Plate
• John O. Reilly

Keyboards

• Jane Mangini
• Derek Wieland
• Luci Butler
• Donald Rooney

Violin

• Anna Phoebe
• Alison Zlotow
• Roddy Chiong

Former members

• Joe Cerisano
• Patti Russo
• Heather Gunn
• Rob Evan
• Peter Shaw
• Mee Eun Kim - Keyboards
• Maxx (Max Mann)
• Sanya Mateyas - vocals
• Zachary Stevens - Vocals
• Tany Ling - Vocals
• David Z - Bass
• Daryl Pediford - Vocals
• Michael Lanning - Vocals
• Guy LeMonnier- Vocals
• Kelly Keeling-Vocals
• Marisa Rhodes - Vocals
• Allie Sheridan - Vocals
• Jennifer Cella
• Mark Wood

Cellist: Elliza Esquavez

Brandon Murphy-Marcello

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

• 2007: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Limited Edition EP (Lava) sold exclusively at Wal-Mart stores

Videos

• 2001: The Ghosts of Christmas Eve

Box sets

• 2004: Christmas Trilogy – Contains all 3 previous Christmas CDs and the "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve" DVD

Non-album tracks

• Whoville Medley (Perfect Christmas Night/Grinch) - From the How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000 film) Soundtrack featuring vocalist Patti Russo

Philanthropy

TSO signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in poor public schools throughout the USA. The band has donated grants to LKR to help them hold free teacher trainings. They also sit on LKR's Honorary Board of Directors.

At most tour stops, the group donates $1 from each ticket sold to a local charity in the city they are performing in. For example, in 2009, when in Council Bluffs, IA, the group donated over $3,000 to the Salvation Army, the November 28th performance in Charlotte, NC donated more than $11,000 to the Levine Children's hospital, more than $6,000 was donated to the Richmond Animal League when in Richmond, VA, and at the Nov. 21, 2009 8pm performance in Philadelphia, the group donated over $12,000 to the Marine Toys-for-Tots Foundation--the check was presented to two active duty U.S. Marines who received a standing ovation from the crowd when they were introduced. The orchestra regularly salutes the armed forces at the intermission, calling them the greatest heroes of all.

See also

• Carson Williams, the electrical engineer from Mason, Ohio who choreographed his outdoor Christmas lights to the song "Wizards in Winter" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
• Savatage

Further reading

• Van Pelt, Doug (March/April 2007). "Live Report: Trans-Siberian Orchestra". HM Magazine (124): 19. ISSN 1066-6923. 

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

• Trans-Siberian Orchestra Official Website
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra Official Fan Club
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra discography at MusicBrainz
• Interview: Paul O'Neill - Night Castle Christmas Tour
• Interview with Paul O'Neill on ChristianityToday.com
• Photos of 2006 Tour: Chicago
• Interview with Bob Kinkel
• Interview with Alex Skolnick 1/2 hour interview with music on the MaximumThreshold.net show
• Complete Trans-Siberian Orchestra Discography