Trans-Siberian Orchestra ‘caravan’ embarks on holiday tour

Cast members with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) have spent the last two weeks in rehearsals to put the finishing touches on this year’s holiday tour.

Each year, just prior to the band’s holiday season tour, the entire team gathers at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to coordinate, fine-tune and perfect “the synchronicity between the music and accompanying video, light show, lasers and, of course, the pyrotechnics,” said Derek Wieland, one of TSO’s musical directors.

 

Derek Wieland, 53, grew up on Long Island, N.Y. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, a private performing arts conservatory in New York City.

He said it takes “a combined effort” of hundreds of technical crew members and 40 performers, while requiring the deployment of 36 trucks and 26 tour buses, to pull off the tour, which includes about 120 shows for a combined audience of about 1 million people during six weeks each year.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra 2025 show theme is “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve: The Best of TSO and More.” Expect the usual TSO spectacle, including a mix of rock opera, classical music and holiday songs. TSO published the list of songs included in the show:

“O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night;” “Good King Joy;” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing;” “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24;” “Christmas Canon;” “O Holy Night;” “Music Box Blues;” “Promises to Keep;” “This Christmas Day;” and “First Snow.”

TSO will be visiting three cities in North Carolina this year. Performances are scheduled in Greensboro on Nov. 20, Raleigh on Dec. 11 and Charlotte on Dec. 13.

When the late Paul O’Neill first conceived Trans-Siberian Orchestra, he said his goal “was to create a progressive rock band that would push the boundaries (of the genre) farther than any group before.”

 

He said came up the name, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, during a 1980s trip to Russia, when he was a passenger on the Trans-Siberian Railway and “was profoundly affected by Siberia’s majestic and stark yet beautiful landscape.”

 

O’Neill’s biography identifies him as a “music composer, lyricist, record producer and guitarist. He was born in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York City and grew up “with a wide-ranging world of musical influences.” 

He began his musical career playing guitar for touring productions of early rock operas “Hair” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Doors of opportunity began to open for O’Neill while working for the music management company Leber-Krebs. O’Neill began producing records and doing promotions for clients like Aerosmith and Def Leppard.

After his time with Leber-Krebs, O’Neill became a successful producer for the progressive metal band Savatage, and it is here that he connected with Jon Oliva, Robert Kinkel and Al Pitrelli, who all became key collaborators in O’Neill’s grand vision for TSO.

Jon Oliva, 66, of The Bronx in New York City, is a songwriter, musician and vocalist with TSO.

 

 

Robert Kinkel, 75, of Buffalo, N.Y., was a music major at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. He is a master keyboardist with TSO as well as music engineer, producer and composer.

Al Pitrelli, 63, is one of the TSO musical directors and a lead guitarist. He attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

 

“I wanted to take the very best of all the forms of music I grew up on and merge them into a new style,” O’Neill often said. 

“Basically, I was building on the work of everybody I worshipped: the rock opera parts from bands like the ‘Who;’ the marriage of classical and rock from bands like ‘Emerson, Lake & Palmer’ and ‘Queen;’ the over-the-top light show from bands like ‘Pink Floyd.’ I always wanted to do a full rock opera with a full progressive band and at least 18 lead singers.”

“Christmas Eve and Other Stories” became TSO’s debut album, released in 1996. Fueled by the seasonal anthem “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” the album quickly achieved double-platinum status. More platinum certifications followed with 1998’s “The Christmas Attic.”

The group first hit the road in 1999, beginning an annual November-December extravaganza that O’Neill took immense pride in being “as over the top as we can make it.” 

Since he died in 2017, at age 61, the “long-time collaborators, friends and family” have definitely turned up the heat.

 

Legacy of Phil O’Neill deserves some extra ink:

 

“There are no second-class seats at a Trans-Siberian Orchestra show. I want people to walk out of our shows speechless and still not believing what they have seen was possible.”

 

“The arts have incredible power. Someone once said that if you want to change the world, don’t become a politician – write a book, write a great song. I believe in that, and that’s what Trans-Siberian Orchestra is about.”

“I’ve always believed that music has the power to transport and transform,” O’Neill explained. Within the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the objective was to make with the most emotional impact.

“We always try to write melodies that are so infectious they don’t need lyrics and lyrics so poetic that they don’t need a melody, but when you combine the two together, they create an alloy where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Once those songs are woven together into a tapestry, they create a story that gives each song a third dimension.”

“The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a constantly morphing group of extremely creative and talented individuals who are always trying to raise the bar of where a band can take its audience sonically, visually and emotionally. With that as our core ideal, the possibilities are endless.”

Since Trans-Siberian Orchestra began touring, the band has donated more than $16 million to a combination of local and national charities. At every tour stop, the group donates $1 or more from each ticket sold to a local charity in the city where they are performing.

“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 the 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.”