About
Producer/composer Paul O'Neill, keyboardist (and also composer) Robert Kinkel and Savatage vocalist Jon Oliva launched Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 1996, employing a full orchestra and chorale, session musicians and other members of Savatage to add rock and progressive metal touches to traditional holiday music. Despite a somewhat smirking critical reception, TSO's four albums have been perennial mega-sellers during the holiday season, and the group itself has offered a successful touring show since its very inception. Of those albums, only one is not Christmas-themed, 2000's Beethoven's Last Night, a rock opera about Ludwig van Beethoven doing psychic battle (and winning) with the devil, who has come to claim his soul. The first stirrings of the group appeared on Savatage's 1995 album Dead Winter, with the song "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" which later, re-released as TSO's first single, became the band's signature song. The year 2008 saw the release of "Night Enchanted," the lead single for an album (also called Night Enchanted) reportedly due out summer of 2009 and which has effectively been in production since 2004.
- Mike McGuirk
