Trans Siberian Orchestra

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,

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. However, 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. 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.

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".

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. title = Trans-Siberian Orchestra Official Site

Chris Altenhoff (bass)

Angus Clark (guitar)

Tommy Farese (vocals; lead on "Ornament" and "This Christmas Day")

Scout Ford (vocals; lead on "Good King Joy")

Anthony Gaynor (narrator)

Christie George (vocals)

Kristen Lewis Gorman (vocals; lead on "Queen of the Winter Night")

Erin Henry (vocals; lead on "Promises to Keep" and "Christmas Canon")

Steena Hernandez (vocals)

Jane Mangini (keyboards)

John O'Reilly (drums)

Al Pitrelli (guitar, musical director)

Andrew Ross (vocals; lead on "An Angel Came Down" and "An Angel Returned")

Bart Shatto (vocals; lead on "Old City Bar")

Jeff Scott Soto (vocals; lead on "Prince of Peace")

Derek Weiland (keyboards)

Mark Wood (string director)

Alison Zlotow (strings)

Steve Broderick (vocals; lead on "Old City Bar")

Lucinda Anne Butler (keyboards)

Chris Caffery (guitar)

Roddy Chong (strings)

Jamey Garner (vocals; lead on "An Angel Came Down" and "An Angel Returned")

Alexa Goddard (vocals)

Bryan Hicks (narrator)

Tim Hockenberry (vocals; lead on "Believe")

Bob Kinkel (keyboards, musical director)

Danielle Landherr (vocals; lead on "Queen of the Winter Night")

Johnny Lee Middleton (bass)

James Lewis (vocals; lead on "Ornament" and "This Christmas Day")

Anna Phoebe (string master)

Jay Pierce (vocals; lead on "Prince of Peace" and "Good King Joy")

Jeff Plate (drums)

Kelly Valentina Porter (vocals)

Alex Skolnick (guitar)

Adrienne Warren (vocals; lead on "Promises to Keep" and "Christmas Canon")

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 Chong

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
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

Signed Music Artists

Biography

TSO tours and touring groups