Flashing lights, fireworks, and snow are only a few of the effects featured in a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. Unlike other orchestral concerts, this particular one did not have a multitude of chairs facing towards a conductor. In fact, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra didn’t even have a conductor on the stage. Needless to say, the performance was definitely different from those of other orchestras that I have seen.
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra specializes in rock music which pulls inspiration from well-known classical music. The Orchestra’s concerts are always explosive, with their special effects bringing delight to the audience. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend their 2007 Winter Tour in December at the Times Union Center. TSO—a name the fans use to refer to the orchestra—started the concert with various rock opera renditions of Christmas songs, with narration by Bryan Hicks before each piece.
Classic Christmas songs included pieces from their albums The Lost Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve and Other Stories. Accompanying the music are the special effects, of course. The audience looked on in wonder at the combination of rock music, a laser light show, and snow falling from above. By the time “Christmas in Sarajevo” and “Wizards in Winter” started playing, the audience were already on their feet and head-banging or cheering to the music.
I’m sure the lights and the snow would have been enough to satiate the audience, but of course, TSO had much more coming up with each of their pieces. Along with the finely choreographed lights, smoke crept onto the stage and fireworks went off to spice up a few of the old TSO favorites. An hour and a half later, the Christmas music came to a halt, and it almost seemed as if the concert was at its end. This wasn’t the case, however, when guitarist Chris Caffery stated that the group had much more to play for us.
The second part of the concert focused on modernized rock versions of classical songs. It would be hard not to be moved by TSO’s renditions of various Beethoven medleys, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee,” Pachelbel’s “Canon in D,” and “Rolling” by Tina Turner. Now I’m usually a bit partial to pieces that include an emphasis on the keyboard, and it was to my delight that the last two songs performed began with a “piano duel” between TSO’s two keyboardists Mee Eun Kim and Robert Kinkel. The crowd was overly impressed when both keyboard players performed to the best of their ability—there was no clear winner, of course, both were spectacular in their own style.
TSO was founded in 1996 by composers Paul O’Neill and Kinkel, and singer Jon Oliva. The group name was inspired by Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway, a point that the founders believe connected many cultures, a similarity that they hoped would be found in their music. Although rock music renditions were not highly popular then, TSO climbed a ladder of success and now thousands of fans look forward to hearing works from the popular orchestra.
For those who have yet to see the TSO live or listen to its music, I highly recommend it.
