Paul O' Neill

was a form of child abuse. But there were books. We were exposed to everything cultural in New York.” Some of his siblings are doctors and lawyers.

His sister, Patricia, was one of the first female Naval Academy graduates, who recently retired from service as a Captain. O’Neill recalled,“My father was a great storyteller. So I see my upbringing differently now.”

Trans-Siberian Orchestra ROCK SYMPHONY OF SYNERGY

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he second of ten children, forbidden to watch television, may have a story or two to tell about living creatively and harmoniously with others. Paul O’Neill, founder of

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, is one such child. His early experiences are put to use in his career, as a musician, producer, composer and writer. He reminisced,“Back then I thought not watching TV 10 | TODAY & TONIGHT MAGAZINE| OCTOBER 2007

That difference can be witnessed in O’Neill’s storytelling creation. Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is a powerful fusion of music, staging, lights, lasers, poetry, prose and pyrotechnics. “Pyro is important! The audience loves it.” TSO is known to some as a Christmas Phenomenon, but this is not your baby sister’s Nutcracker Suite! This is a multimedia interpretation of the war between good and evil, God and the devil and angels that help men to help themselves.

O’Neill related the evolution, “The forerunner of TSO was Slow Burn. I was writing melodies. Some needed a vocalist who could sing three octaves in range. John Oliva could handle it.” Oliva, from nearby Clearwater, was in the group Savatage. In 1987, he and producer O’Neill, won acclaim with In the Hall of the Mountain King, an Edvard Grieg composition for Henrik Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt.

O’Neill developed that style of storytelling on a grander scale. Along with Oliva, the pair is joined by composer, engineer and keyboard master, Robert Kinkel. Guitarist and West Coast manager Al Pitrelli, completes the core creative quartet of TSO. They are managed in Manhattan by Adam Lind of Night Castle.

Their fifth album, Knight Castle, is being recorded at Morrisound in Tampa and scheduled for release by Lava/Atlantic in Spring 2008. Though their name implies geographic distance, Florida is where they manufacture their magic. O’Neill, is a Mountain Lake resident with wife Desiree and daughter, Ireland. But he tours extensively. Ninety holiday shows, of two road units, are booked from November to January. O’Neill’s tour begins on Friday, November 2 at The Lakeland Center Jenkins Arena, where they also rehearse.

“We love live shows,” O’Neill beamed. “They have to be seen. You can create a beautiful paper flower, but it’s magic to see a live orchid. You have to be there when it blossoms.

Then it’s gone. It’s like touring. We feed off the crowd, as they do from us. It’s cool in the studio. It’s like a tight rope walker working with a net. But it’s cooler to see a tight rope walker working without a net like we do live.” TSO’s balancing act reaches from lofty ethereal fantasy, tosses in lowdown reality and lifts back up with Spirituality. O’Neill articulated the purpose and passion. “TSO revolves around drawing people in. First it’s the story. It’s made to evoke emotion. To cut deeper. Like Pin Ball Wizard. It’s a great song by itself, but in context to Tommy, it’s more interesting. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s song, I Don’t Know How to Love Him, from Jesus Christ Superstar, is beautiful. But when you realize it’s Mary Magdalene singing about Jesus, it adds a third dimension.”

This search for deeper meaning is a tireless quest. “We compose music that can stand alone without lyrics. We write lyrics that can stand without music. We put them together in a way where they can’t be separated. It’s an alloy.” An alloy that has gone multi-platinum.

O’Neill continued, “There’s no tracks at our shows, just live instrumentation. We have two drummers, four lead guitarists and an orchestra. It’s great to see an older rock guitarist playing next to a young cellist. We incorporate the best

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of Opera, R&B, Broadway, Rock and Gospel. It’s a hybrid and cross-pollenation. We have eighteen lead vocalists.”

Their talent pool is deep. Singers of all ages embody and interpret the story. There is also a narrator. The story expands and contracts musically as the audience is transported on a journey no G.P.S. could navigate. Yet, O’Neill captains the performance with respect for participants on both sides of the stage. “We open with a symphonic piece, go to a rock or heavy metal song, then, when you think you can’t hear anymore because of the juggernaut, we go down to a piano/vocal. The quieter piece becomes the more powerful and intense.”

On The Christmas Attic album, a female delicately sings with an acoustic guitar on The Music Box. Following, On The Snow Came Down, a contrasting rock male voice with full orchestra serves as a vehicle for the story. O’Neill added, “The whole idea behind TSO was to create anything at anytime for anyone. We keep trying to make it bigger and better.”

Bigger perhaps, but not elite in the philosophical, intellectual or financial sense. He explained, “We share a concept with Pink Floyd. We don’t sell obstructed views. Even if you’re at the top of a hall, it may be more cinematic, but it’s still a great seat. There’s no coach or business class. They’re all first class seats.”

The program and merchandise adhere to the standard.

“We agonize to keep tickets affordable. A paper boy or Bill Gates has the same opportunity to get a front row seat. We never want anyone to have to choose between TSO or feeding their grandmother. It costs millions, but we keep our fingers crossed and hope for sell outs.” And they get them. Billboard magazine reported TSO as topping ticket sales from November 2006 to May 2007. “When the audience leaves, we don’t want them to say, it’s the best show I’ve ever seen. We’d rather they say, we just ripped that band off blind!”

O’Neill, then spoke more like a Renaissance man and professor, than a producer. “In the history of

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Western civilization, prior to the 1900’s, only the rich could afford books or concerts. We not only make it affordable, but deal with subjects everyone can identify with.” He mentioned Oscar Wilde’s prose, Pete Townshend, Victor Hugo, Jim Croce and Harry Chapin as diverse inspirations. Beethoven’s immense adversities were discussed as a motivation for creation. They were interpreted in Beethoven’s Last Night, a tribute album to the composer. Before his demise, Beethoven meets Mephistopheles and is forced to decide whether to sell his soul and Tenth Symphony to save a child.

Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24, is also a profound story of human optimism in the face of dismal situations. O’Neill said, “I tend to look for larger than life subjects. Christmas makes people kinder. They do what they wouldn’t otherwise do. I’m fascinated by that. In the Korean War, atheists put down their weapons. When Charles Dickens was asked why he wrote five books on Christmas, he said it was too large a subject to put in one book. It’s also too large for one album.” Christmas Eve and Other Stories, The Christmas Attic and The Lost Christmas Eve, comprise the trilogy of TSO original Christmas offerings with familiar Carols interspersed.

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The works emulate the Christ Child, humble and lowly, yet simultaneously majestic. In The Lost Christmas Eve, a man is forced to face his past of immediately institutionalizing an impaired son after his wife died in childbirth. His anger at God binds him. A chain of events, led by an angel, brings him from a Blues bar, to his grown son on Christmas Eve. The son he abandoned, now works at a hospital caring for crack babies. Stories meant to break and then mend the heart, recur in the work of TSO. An album is the first half of the concert, followed by varied selections in the second half.

If you’re listening at home, comprehensive books accompany the CDs. Stories are related in several methods. O’Neill described, “Poetry is half way between prose and lyric. It’s easier to capture the soul of something in poetry.” The art of famed Greg Hildebrandt typifies the album’s spirit, as does his work on the tour program. Both abound with gratitude to the magnitude of people it takes to stage this production.

TSO’s appreciation is reciprocated. They are joined, unannounced, by other celebrated artists such as Joan Jett, John Anderson from YES and Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. You’ll never know who’ll show up at the show. But if you do, you won’t be disappointed. You’ll be appreciated. O’Neill holds altruistically to the principal of doing unto others as you would have done unto you. “I believe most people are good at heart...I want to do my part to change those who aren’t, one idiot at a time.” A TSO lyric says it best: If you want to arrange it This world you could change it If we could somehow make this Christmas thing last TSO is doing their part. Be part of it.

Scrooges, be forwarned!

Where: Lakeland Center Jenkins Arena When: November 2 and 3, 2007 Web: www.Trans-Siberian.com

OCTOBER 2007 | TODAY & TONIGHT MAGAZINE | 11