Trans-Siberian Orchestra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Trans-Siberian Orchestra

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

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (often abbreviated as TSO) is a rock orchestra founded by Paul O'Neill, Robert Kinkel, and Jon Oliva in 1996. 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 the actual performance.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Trans-Siberian Orchestra was founded in 1996 in New York City by composers Paul O'Neill and Robert Kinkel and Savatage lead singer Jon Oliva. The group's name is inspired by the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia, which Kinkel says connects many cultures otherwise isolated, much like music.

Roger Daltrey closing out a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.

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, but quickly proved a success with adults as well as young people.

In the recording studio, Trans-Siberian Orchestra uses a full 60-piece orchestra and a choir. As of 2004, their touring band included fourteen vocalists, fourteen musicians, and two 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, PA in 1999. In 2000, they released their first (and to date only) 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.

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 twenty-first 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 (including "Layla", "Immigrant Song", and "Proud Mary"). The 2008 tour also featured a 2 song Savatage selection "Prelude to Madness" and "Believe" finishing with a reprise of "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24", although only the East touring company played both songs, whereas 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.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Nightcastle is a non-Christmas album of Trans-Siberian Orchestra that was still in production as of June 23rd, 2009. It will include a version of "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, which was previewed live by the band during their 2004-2008 tours. In an interview with Rockmymonkey.com, Jon Oliva confirmed that he would be recording vocal parts for the album (the last Trans-Siberian Orchestra album to feature Oliva's vocals was 2000's Beethoven's Last Night). Kurdt Vanderhoof of Metal Church would also contribute guitar parts to the album.

During performances of their 2006 tour, Chris Caffery stated that production of Nightcastle was behind schedule largely because of the band's perfectionism. This delay echoes the two-year delay in the release of Beethoven's Last Night and the year-long delay in the release of The Lost Christmas Eve. TSO stated, on their website, that they are "buried in the studio" attempting to finish the album. [7]

In several cities during their 2007-2008 winter tour, a joke was made on-stage as to what we would be more likely to see in our lifetimes: a McDonald's on Mars, or the release of the long awaited album. This was followed by the band's performance of 'O Fortuna' which will be on the upcoming album. Trans-Siberian Orchestra has consistently surprised New York/New Jersey fans with a special encore every year. From 2005-2008 the orchestra included special appearances by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Joan Jett, and other celebrities from the rock world.

In the 2008 edition of TSO's souvenir program there is a page featuring "excerpts from the lyrics on Nightcastle copyrighted 2007 Paul O'Neill. The song is titled "There Was a Life" and is adjacent to a full page photo of Al Pitrelli on the west coast and a picture of Robert Kinkel on the east coast. This song is not one of the three featured in the concert, but a few new instrumentals have currently been performed.

In a interview at ytsejam.com, Jon Oliva mentioned the project went into its final stages and mixing on August 10, 2008. He also made mention of the album being a double album, half Paul O'Neill's "rock opera" and half instrumental.[8]

On October 8, 2008, when Paul O'Neill was interviewed on Seattle's Bob Rivers radio show, he mentioned that during 2008's TSO Christmas tour, more songs will be played from Nightcastle, but the album may not be released until the summer of 2009 (if not later).[9]

On November 24, 2008, TSO released "Night Enchanted", the first song on the album, for free via Amazon MP3. The song is also available to purchase on iTunes.

At the beginning of April, 2009 a website entitled nightcastlealbum.com showed up. The site shows and picture of the Night Castle with clouds, lightning, thunder and then the moon with "Prelude to Madness" by Savatage playing. You click a window and you can go to two different rooms. One room shows an old man writing with artwork by TSO and Savatage artists, you can click on scrolls which has a few paragraphs in Vietnamese, a scroll written in Latin which may roughly translate to "October, 2009 release". You can also click and go to a "clock room" and the only thing you can click on is a zodiac sign with Libra highlighted. Libra falls in the middle of October. The music playing in this room is "Mozart and Madness" from Savatage. This site is created by Nightcastle Management, a phone number appears if you go to nc-management.com.

[edit] 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]

TSO West, 2008 Touring Members TSO East, 2008 Touring Members

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")

[edit] Members (past, present and touring only)

Composer

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

Bass

Drums

Keyboards

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

Violin

[edit] Former members

Cellist: Elliza Esquavez Brandon Murphy-Marcello

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

Date of release Title Label Billboard peak RIAA cert.
1996-10-15 Christmas Eve and Other Stories Lava #89 2x platinum
1998-09-15 The Christmas Attic Lava #103 Platinum
2000-04-11 Beethoven's Last Night Warner/Atlantic #165 Gold
2004-10-12 The Lost Christmas Eve Lava #26 Platinum
Summer 2009 The Night Castle Lava - -

[edit] Compilation Albums

  • 2007: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Limited Edition EP (Lava) sold exclusively at Wal-Mart stores
Track No. Song Title Notes
1 A Mad Russian's Christmas Originally released 1996 on "Christmas Eve and Other Stories"
2 Dream Child (A Christmas Dream) Originally released 1998 on "The Christmas Attic"
3 A Last Illusion Originally released 2000 on "Beethoven's Last Night"
4 Christmas Canon Rock Originally released 2004 on "The Lost Christmas Eve"
5 Heal My Soul Adaptation of a song originally released on Savatage's "Streets: A Rock Opera" album
6 Prince of Peace (Live) Live male vocalist performance recorded at New York City's Madison Square Garden - 2006

[edit] Videos

  • 2001: The Ghosts of Christmas Eve

[edit] Box sets

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

[edit] Non-album tracks

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ From Heavy Metal to Symphonic Rock and Holiday Gold - New York Times
  2. ^ a b Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) Is This Winter's Biggest Concert Attraction
  3. ^ WiseGeek: What is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra?
  4. ^ Encyclopaedia Metallum on Trans-Siberian Orchestra
  5. ^ PollstarPro: News
  6. ^ Trans Siberian Orchestra - Concert Review
  7. ^ a b "Trans-Siberian Orchestra Official Site". http://www.trans-siberian.com/index-main.php. Retrieved on 2008-02-25. 
  8. ^ "Interview with Jon Oliva"
  9. ^ Trans-Siberian Orchestra Founder, Paul O'Neill. Seattle, Washington: The Bob Rivers Show, KZOK-FM. 2008-10-08. http://www.bobrivers.com/player/player.asp?atype=onair&ID=7966. 

[edit] External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trans-Siberian Orchestra
v • d • e
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Jon Oliva · Paul O'Neill · Robert Kinkel
Vocalists
Peter Shaw · Heather Gunn · Andrew Ross · Steena Hernandez · Erin Henry · Jay Pierce · Jennifer Cella · Patti Russo · Steve Broderick · Danielle Landherr · Bryan Hicks
Former: Zachary Stevens · Tany Ling · James Lewis
Guitarists
Other musicians
Johnny Lee Middleton (bass) · Jeff Plate (drums) · Mee Eun Kim (keyboards) · Jane Mangini (keyboards) · Mark Wood (violin)
Former: David Z (bass)
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - EP
Box-set
The Christmas Trilogy
Video
The Ghosts of Christmas Eve
Related articles
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Siberian_Orchestra"
Personal tools