The Trans-Siberian Orchestra will fill Veterans Memorial Auditorum with electric cheer as it makes its annual holiday visit tomorrow night.
TSO consists of 21 on-stage performers that combine the styles of classical, rock and Broadway to create a sound that resonates with audience members young and old.
“A narrator, six singers, a six-piece rock band and an eight-piece string section make up the 21 members,” said Bob Kinkel, TSO keyboardist, producer and show organizer.
The many members descend from various musical backgrounds that aid the group’s unique sound and diversity.
“We have people who are heavily trained, with music degrees, and some who are just naturals. We have Broadway stars, Daryll Pediford is from Kool and the Gang and we have unknowns,” said Paul O’Neill, guitarist and main writer for TSO.
For this year’s “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” tour, the group has constructed a show that is divided into halves. The first half is “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” performed in its entirety. The second half of the show is a rock concert performing songs from TSO’s “Beethoven’s Last Night” and “Christmas Attic” albums.
“As fog slowly builds over the stage, we start out the night with ‘Bells of Holly,’ which is a bit of a down tempo song; after that we kick the show into high gear and get heavier and more up tempo,” Kinkel said.
Past audiences have noticed TSO’s rock attitude within performances, which makes the group an exciting one to watch.
“The show has been described by fans as the London Philharmonic meets Pink Floyd meets The Who. The London Philharmonic for the string section, Pink Floyd for the light show and The Who for the rock opera and story telling,” Kinkel said.
The key point of the show comes when TSO performs their epic piece “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” which tells the story of a cellist who refused to be intimidated by the gunfire in his native city of Sarajevo. This song became the centerpiece of “Christmas Eve and Other Stories.”
TSO is about creating great art, O’Neill said. The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to that art, and there are three categories of art: bad art, good art and great art, he said.
Bad art will elicit no emotional response in the person that is exposed to it, good art will make you feel an emotion that you have felt before and great art will make you feel an emotion you have never felt before, O’Neill said.
The show provides an ever-evolving light show, which works as the overall scenic element throughout the pieces and compliments the music and story telling.
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra show at Veteran’s Memorial begins at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster or at the Veterans Memorial box office. An autograph session will be held for an hour after the show for anyone who wishes to meet and greet the band.
