Trans-Siberian Orchestra is an American
progressive rock band founded in 1996 by
producer, composer, and lyricist Paul
O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva
and Al Pitrelli and keyboardist and
co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the
core of the creative team. The band
gained in popularity when they began
touring in 1999 after completing their
second album, The Christmas Attic the
year previous. In 2007, the Washington
Post referred to them as "an arena-rock
juggernaut" and described their music as
"Pink Floyd meets Yes and The Who at
Radio City Music Hall." TSO has sold
more than 10 million concert tickets and
over 10 million albums. The band has
released a series of rock operas:
Christmas Eve and Other Stories, The
Christmas Attic, Beethoven's Last Night,
The Lost Christmas Eve , their two-disc
Night Castle and Letters From the
Labyrinth. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is
also known for their extensive charity
work and elaborate concerts, which
include a string section, a light show,
lasers, "enough pyro to be seen from the
international space station", moving
trusses, video screens, and effects
synchronized to music.
Both Billboard Magazine and Pollstar
have ranked them as one of the top ten
ticket-selling bands in the first decade
of the new millennium. Their path to
success was unusual in that TSO is the
first major rock band to go straight to
theaters and arenas, having never played
at a club, never having an opening act
and never being an opening act.
History 
= Origins and formation =
Paul O'Neill has managed and produced
rock bands including Aerosmith, Humble
Pie, AC/DC, Joan Jett, and Scorpions,
later producing and co-writing albums by
the progressive metal band Savatage,
where he began working with Jon Oliva,
Al Pitrelli and Robert Kinkel. O'Neill
took his first steps into rock music in
the 1970s when he started the
progressive rock band Slowburn, for whom
he was the lyricist and co-composer.
What was intended to be the band's debut
album was recorded at Jimi Hendrix's
Electric Lady Studios and engineered by
Dave Wittman. Although Wittman's
engineering was capturing the exact
sound O'Neill was hearing in his head,
O'Neill was having trouble with it
because many of his melodies were
between two to three octaves. Rather
than releasing an album that he was not
happy with, he shelved the project, but
continued working in the industry at
Contemporary Communications Corporation,
company at the time.
Over the years, O'Neill continued to
work as a writer, producer, manager, and
concert promoter. In 1996, he accepted
Atlantic Records' offer to start his own
band. He built the band on a foundation
created by the marriage of classical and
rock music and the artists he idolized.
He brought in Oliva, Kinkel, and
Pitrelli to help start the project.
O'Neill has stated, "My original concept
was six rock operas, a trilogy about
Christmas and maybe one or two regular
albums."
In the 1980s I was fortunate enough to
have visited Russia. If anyone has ever
seen Siberia, it is incredibly beautiful
but incredibly harsh and unforgiving as
well. The one thing that everyone who
lives there has in common that runs
across it in relative safety is the
Trans-Siberian Railway. Life, too, can
be incredibly beautiful but also
incredibly harsh and unforgiving, and
the one thing that we all have in common
that runs across it in relative safety
is music. It was a little bit overly
philosophical, but it sounded different,
and I like the initials, TSO.
= Plans interrupted =
O'Neill and Jon Oliva were preparing for
the launching of Trans-Siberian
Orchestra when their plans were brought
to a halt with the death of Jon's
younger brother, Savatage guitarist
Criss Oliva. Realizing that without a
new Savatage album delivered quickly,
Warner Brothers would likely drop the
group and their catalog, they quickly
delivered two new albums for Savatage.
Not until they were sure that the
Savatage situation was stabilized were
they able to resume work on TSO. With
Savatage stabilized O'Neill decided it
was time to launch Trans-Siberian
Orchestra; however, the William Morris
Agency had heard the rough demos and
convinced O'Neill that it was too good
to be a rock album. Owen Laster,
O'Neill's agent, not only got him thirty
million for production cost but also
helped him to obtain total creative
control over everything produced by him.
= Christmas Eve and Other Stories and
The Christmas Attic =
Their debut album, the first installment
of the intended Christmas Trilogy, was a
rock opera called Christmas Eve and
Other Stories, and was released in 1996.
It remains among their best-selling
albums. It contains the instrumental
"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" which
originally appeared on Savatage's rock
opera, Dead Winter Dead, a story about
the Bosnian War. Their 1998 release The
Christmas Attic, the sequel to Christmas
Eve and Other Stories followed a similar
format. This album produced the hit
"Christmas Canon," a take on Johann
Pachelbel's Canon in D major with lyrics
and new melodies added. The Christmas
Attic was first performed live in 2014.
= Beethoven's Last Night =
Beethoven's Last Night was completed
prior to Christmas Attic but not turned
in to Atlantic Records until 1999 for
release in 2000. The story begins when
Mephistopheles appears before Beethoven,
whom Paul O'Neill refers to as "the
world's first Heavy Metal Rock Star", to
collect the great composer's soul. Of
course Beethoven is horrified at the
thought of eternal damnation, but the
devil has an offer and the bargaining
begins. There are numerous plot twist
including the fate of his music and the
ending is based on a true but little
known fact about Beethoven. Also in
1998, at the request of Scott Shannon of
WPLJ they performed live for the first
time in a charity concert for Blythedale
Children's Hospital. In 1999, at the
urging of Bill Louis, a DJ for WNCX in
Cleveland, they did their first tour,
during which they debuted sections of
Beethoven's Last Night. They performed
the album in its entirety for the first
time during the spring tour of 2010. In
October 2011, Beethoven's Last Night was
released in Europe to coincide with
their European tour with new cover art
by Greg Hildebrandt and the missing
pages of poetry from the original
release.
The Mephistopheles songs are sung by Jon
Oliva.
To coincide with the 2012 spring tour,
Beethoven's Last Night: The Complete
Narrated Version, was released by
AtlanticWarner Brothers Record. This
two-disc deluxe edition includes all of
the music from the original release and,
for the first time, the narration
featured during live performances of the
album. It comes packaged with a booklet
filled with Hildebrandt's illustrations
of the story, plus the full lyrics and
narration. The narration is performed by
Bryan Hicks, who has been handling the
live narration on the tours for this
album. Creator Paul O'Neill explains,
"This is how I have always envisioned
the story being experienced. Where the
listener can relax, close their eyes and
within minutes be wandering the streets
of 1800s Vienna with Beethoven on the
last great adventure of his life."
= The Lost Christmas Eve =
Whenever the band was off the road they
returned to the studio and in 2004
completed The Lost Christmas Eve, the
final installment of the Christmas
Trilogy. It is a story of loss and
redemption that encompasses a rundown
hotel, an old toy store, a blues bar, a
Gothic Cathedral and their respective
inhabitant all intertwined on a single
enchanted Christmas Eve in New York
City. The next year they combined all
three Christmas albums and released them
in a box set titled The Christmas
Trilogy, which also contained a DVD of
their 1999 TV special The Ghosts of
Christmas Eve The Lost Christmas Eve was
first performed live in 2012 followed by
a encore tour in 2013. Critics once
again called it "stunning showmanship" 
"that included every trick known to man
kind including massive pyro, spectacular
lasers, stages that hover over the
audience, hot back up singers all the
while constantly connecting with their
audience."
= Night Castle =
After another few years of touring,
Night Castle, Trans-Siberian Orchestra's
fifth album, was released on October 27,
2009 well received by fans and critics
alike. It debuted at #5 on the Billboard
Album Charts. It was certified gold in
eight weeks and is now platinum. "Their
most ambitious and adventurous work to
date. It runs the gamut from hard rock
to classical taking the listener on a
journey through history detailing the
triumphs and follies of man but is
ultimately a story of transformation and
love." Initially intended to be their
first regular, non rock opera,
consisting of ten stand alone songs
album, O'Neill credits Jon Oliva
persistence that it was too early for
such a move and that the fifth album had
to be a rock opera. Insisting that "TSO
was not like any other band and that the
fans expected a story. It was a little
bit of a role reversal because when we
were working in Savatage, I was always
wanting to do a concept record." and The
two-disc set includes a version of "O
Fortuna" from Carmina Burana by Carl
Orff, which was previewed live by the
band during their 2004–2008 tours. An
MP3 version of the album released
through Amazon.com contains an
additional track entitled "The Flight of
Cassandra."
The first half is a rock opera about a
seven-year-old child on a beach who
meets a stranger from New York City who
tells her a story that takes her all
around the world and through time where
she encounters various characters, many
of which are based on historical
individuals such as Desiderius Erasmus.
The second half pays homage to
Trans-Siberian Orchestra's influences.
It also contains new versions of several
Savatage songs as well as "Nut Rocker,"
originally by B. Bumble and the Stingers
and previously made famous by Emerson,
Lake & Palmer, featuring Greg Lake on
bass guitar.
In February 2011, Night Castle was
released in Europe with two live bonus
tracks added. Both live tracks were
recorded on the 2010 spring tour at the
Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie,
formerly Nokia Theater, in Grand
Prairie, Texas. Metal Kaoz, reviewed it
as a two-hour plus double rock opera CD
with, "no filler" that flows smoothly.
"The classical layers meet the beauty of
Metal music and form the fine blend... a
wide range of emotions and musical
colors...tracks that will blow your
mind. Hit play and wander freely in
TSO's, Night Castle."
= Dreams of Fireflies =
On October 30, 2012 Trans-Siberian
Orchestra released a new five-song EP
entitled Dreams of Fireflies on Lava
Republic Universal Records. It debuted
in Billboard Magazine's Top 200 Albums
chart at number #9, and #1 in the rock
charts. It was the band's first EP and
with a list price of five dollars or
under was Trans-Siberian Orchestra's way
of saying thank you to their fans.
Rather than containing the usual TSO
story, it was more like a Harry Chapin
album where a short story is contained
within the song. For example, "Someday"
is about how people have a tendency to
put off saying thank you to individuals
that they owe a great debt to and with
the best of intention tell themselves
that they will do it someday. Also each
song is accompanied by a short poem.
= Tales of Winter: Selections from the
TSO Rock Operas =
Released on October 11, 2013, this
fifteen-track collection is
Trans-Siberian Orchestra's first
greatest hits collection and includes
songs from all six prior releases. Cover
art once again provided by Greg
Hildebrandt.
= Who I Am =
On November 11, 2011 they released a new
choral piece entitled, "Who I Am". This
was originally released as a digital
download to fans who purchased tickets
through the band's ticket pre-sale but
is now available through other music
sites as well as being released on their
2015 album, Letters From the Labyrinth.
The song was performed live as the
opening number for the 2011 winter tour
in acknowledgement of the rough times
many people in the world were going
through but bringing a message of hope
by pointing out that together we can
solve these problems as earlier
generations have done in the past. It
was accompanied by sound and video clips
of individuals who helped humanity
progress forward or over come seemingly
impossible situations. The first quote
and image was Reverend M.L. King's voice
echoing " I Have a dream...that all men
will be judged by the content of their
character," followed by President
Kennedy's inaugural challenge, "Ask not
what your country can do for you; ask
what you can do for your country. It
included pictures of Jonas Salk, the
scientist who cured polio, Sister Mother
Theresa who spent her life caring for
the unwanted and ended with Neil
Armstrong taking the first step on the
moon and the NASA's Gene Kranz para
phrased quote in regard to saving the
astronauts aboard the damage space
capsule Apollo 13, that, "Failure is not
an option."
= Merry Christmas Rabbi =
In 2013 the band announced the late
November release of a novella, Merry
Christmas Rabbi. Referred to as the
final missing piece to the Christmas
Trilogy, it is the journal discovered by
the girl in the Christmas Attic rock
opera that leads into the song, "Dream
Child." Press releases described it as
"the story of a fateful Christmas Eve
and how one of the craziest gambles in
human history leads to a second chance
for a troubled youth who finds himself
past the point of no return."
TSO's influence 
= Bands influenced =
In 2010, a group of musicians from the
metro New York area formed a band,
called the Wizards of Winter, inspired
by TSO and dedicated to faithfully
reproduce TSO's music in more intimate
settings. The Wizards released their own
Christmas album in 2011 and mostly play
their own original music, while also
performing a couple of TSO's greatest
hits. Four of the original members of
TSO—Tommy Farese, Guy LeMonnier, Tony
Gaynor, and Joe Cerisano—have toured
with the Wizards. Guy LeMonnier joined
the Wizards as an official member in
2014.
= Fireworks displays =
Trans-Siberian Orchestra Music has
constantly been used every year synced
to major outdoor fire work displays.
From Malta's, Santa Manira Festival, to
countless New Year's Eves from Dallas to
Almaty, Kazakhstan to numerous other
outdoor celebrations across the globe.
= Lighting displays =
In 2005 Carson Williams started a
synchronized lighting race when he used
88 Light-O-Rama channels, over ten
thousand lights and a small radio
transmitter to illuminate his home to
"Wizards in Winter." A video of the
house quickly went viral on the internet
and eventually was picked up by Miller
Lite as the theme for their T.V. ads
over the next two years. Other homes
soon followed eventually crossing to
single homes with over a million lights.
Soon after entire cities like Denver and
Chicago were lighting their downtown
districts in a similar manner, as well
as many major theme parks such as Disney
World and Universal Studios.
= Philanthropic activities =
Since Trans-Siberian Orchestra began
touring, the band has donated over $10
million to a combination of local and
national charities. At every tour stop,
the group donates one dollar or more
from each ticket sold to a local charity
in the city where they are performing. A
single day in New Jersey's Izod arena
yielded $40,000 to local charities. The
band helps any charity or group they
think is in need but especially ones
that protect and help children. In 2010
Paul O'Neill voiced the band's
philosophy on the TSO's web site and
also in the 2010 Winter Tour Book, "We
are all in this together. We must look
out for the well being of each other,
most of all the young. For the young are
the architects of the future and we are
the architects of the young. We can not
tell those yet to be born that we did
our best." Paul is a well known history
buff.
= Fans and crew =
Paul O'Neill constantly states that the
fans own the band: "TSO's goal is to
make the best albums and concerts we
possibly can, sparing no amount of time
or expense and then charge the lowest
possible price. No musician or singer is
on the TSO flight deck for the money. We
do it because we love the energy from
the crowd especially the kids. Also in
Trans Siberian Orchestra the crew are as
much a member of the band as anyone on
the flight deck. They actually have the
hardest jobs. They are the first ones in
and the last ones out. Watching them at
work is like watching a well
choreographed ballet or military
operation. TSO could not be TSO without
them and we know it." Al Pitrelli summed
it up more humorously, "No one in TSO is
paid to be on the stage, that we do for
free. The money is to stay out of
trouble on our off time."
Over the years, O'Neill consistently
thanks the audience, referring to them
as the second half of Trans-Siberian
Orchestra and that without them TSO
would just be notes and words echoing in
an empty arena. "The fans' enthusiasm
and energy power the stage show as much,
if not more, than any local electric
company."
Touring 
In 2009, Billboard ranked TSO as one of
the Top 25 Touring Artists of the past
decade. Live shows are known for their
extensive use of pyrotechnics, lasers,
and lights synchronized with the
performance.
The 2011 winter tour was the final year
of Christmas Eve and Other Stories.
Between 2010 and 2012 also spring tours
were held, to play also the entire
Beethoven's Last Night album, and songs
of Night Castle. In 2011 for the very
first time in the band's history also an
European leg was included, with venues
particularly in Germany.
Their 2012-2013 Fall/Winter tour,
sponsored by the Hallmark Channel
featured The Lost Christmas Eve album in
place of Christmas Eve and Other
Stories.
In 2013, TSO kicked off their second
European tour with a performance on New
Year's Eve 2013-14 in front of over 1
million fans at Berlin's Brandenburg
Gate. "A daring feat in which the band
played three shows across two continents
in 27 hours." The show was broadcast
live to millions more on German
television.
In August 2014 the band announced the
first half of the winter tour they would
feature The Christmas Attic, the only
rock opera from the "Christmas Trilogy"
never performed live.
= Wacken Open Air Festival 2015 =
On July 30, 2015 Trans-Siberian
Orchestra and a reunited Savatage
headlined the 26th edition of Wacken
Open Air Festival in Germany, which is
the largest Metal Festival in the world.
The 2015 Festival lasted three days and
featured over a hundred bands. This
event marked both TSO's first outdoor
festival appearance and first Savatage
show in 13 years. A massive set was
designed so that the two main festival
stages would be identical, although this
aspect of the show was not revealed
until the second half of the
performance. For the first 40 minutes
Savatage played a reunion show featuring
Jon Oliva as the main lead singer for
the first time in over 25 years, as well
as Zak Stevens. This was followed by a
Trans-Siberian Orchestra set on the next
stage debuting several new songs.
Following this, for the first time in
music history, the entire band played a
coordinated set spanning the two
festival main stages, connected by a
catwalk. This united Trans-Siberian
Orchestra featured 4 guitarists, 4
keyboard players, 2 drummers, 2
bassists, a full string section, and 24
vocalists and dancers performing in sync
for nearly 80,000 people.
In the televised broadcast a week after
the show but right before the actual
performance, Paul O'Neill and Al
Pitrelli admitted to being blind sided
by non-stop rain and mud on the night
before which removed any chance to check
the staging until the actual show. Metal
Recusants, which favorably reviewed the
entire event said, "If all the above
shows were spectacular and memorable the
Savatage's and Trans-Siberian Orchestra
show is a whole new level of shows...I
have never seen such a thing take place
before and it was definitely a once in a
lifetime experience."
List of touring performers 
Guitarists:
Tristan Avakian
Chris Caffery
George Cintron
Angus Clark
Bill Hudson
Joel Hoekstra
Damon La Scott
Al Pitrelli
Alex Skolnick
Bassists:
Chris Altenhoff
Malcolm Gold
Johnny Lee Middleton
David Z
Keyboardists:
Luci Butler
Carmine Giglio
Mee Eun Kim
Bob Kinkel
Doug Kistner
Vitalij Kuprij
Allison Lovejoy
Jane Mangini
John Margolis
Paul Morris
Derek Wieland
Electric Violinists:
Sarah Charness
Roddy Chong
Ted Falcon
Asha Mevlana
Lucia Micarelli
Caitlin Moe
Anna Phoebe
Valerie Vigoda
Mark Wood
Alison Zlotow
Drummers:
Steve Murphy
Jeff Plate
John O. Reilly
Vocalists:
Ashley Adamek
Angelica Allen
Russell Allen
April Berry
Robin Borneman
Dustin Brayley
John Brink
Steve Broderick
Jennifer Cella
Joe Cerisano
Katrina Chester
Tru Collins
Ava Davis
Eileen Kaden Dean
Marcus DeLoach
Rob Evan
Tommy Farese
Dina Fanai
Scout Ford
Jamey Garner
Jill Gioia
Alexa Goddard
Kristin Lewis Gorman
Heather Gunn
Autumn Guzzardi
Gabriela Guncikova
Erin Henry
Steena Hernandez
Katie Hicks
Tim Hockenberry
Nathan James
Erika Jerry
Jodi Katz
Kelly Keeling
Danielle Landherr
Michael Lanning
Rosie Lanziero
Guy LeMonnier
James Lewis
Gary Lindemann
Lisa Lavie
Tany Ling
Guy Lockard
Chloe Lowery
Dari Mahnic
Maxx Mann
Sanya Mateyas
Abby Lynn Mulay
Ronny Munroe
Georgia Napolitano
Daryl Pediford
Jay Pierce
Natalya Rose Piette
Chris Pinnella
Valentina Porter
Cynthia Posner
Sophia Ramos
Kayla Reeves
Joe Retta
Marisa Rhodes
Andrew Ross
Bart Shatto
Peter Shaw
Allie Sheridan
Rebecca Simon
Jeff Scott Soto
Zachary Stevens
Kay Story
Becca Tobin
Marilyn Villamar
Adrienne Warren
Rod Weber
Jason Wooten
Narrators:
Phillip Brandon
Tim Cain
Tony Gaynor
Bryan Hicks
Discography 
Studio albums
Christmas Eve and Other Stories
The Christmas Attic
Beethoven's Last Night
The Lost Christmas Eve
Night Castle
Dreams of Fireflies
Tales of Winter: Selections from the TSO
Rock Operas
Letters From the Labyrinth
See also 
Christmas music
Carson Williams
References 
External links 
Trans-Siberian Orchestra official
website
Trans-Siberian Orchestra Message Boards
for Fans
Complete Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Discography
Trans-Siberian Orchestra on IMDB
