West Music Staff Blogs

When you go to a concert that has a spectacular pyrotechnic display, complete with lights and lasers, that take a crew 15 hours to set up, what are you expecting to hear? What about when the guitarists come in with long hair and you see famous musicians like Aerosmith and Joan Jett joining them on stage? Are you expecting to hear classical music? Probably not, but that is just what you will get with The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. (Listen to some selections below.)

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra or TSO is a "rock orchestra" that was founded in 1996. They took their name from the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia, which united otherwise isolated communities. The goal of TSO is to unite other kinds of music. So at a TSO concert you will see long-haired guitarists in tuxedos and Julliard trained violinists in leather pants playing Beethoven on electric violins.

The TSO does mainly Christmas music. They have 3 Christmas CDs out: "Christmas Eve and Other Stories," "The Christmas Attic," and "The Lost Christmas Eve." They have a non Christmas CD called "Beethoven's Last Night" and have just released their next non Christmas album called "Nightcastle."

Last December, my husband and I took my mother to see one of their concerts. She and I have always loved their music, and I got my husband hooked, as well. I asked my sister if she would like to come, but she declined since she didn't really like classical music. After the band opened with Verdi's Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath") lowering the musicians onto the stage in a cloud of smoke and lots of lasers and flames, my mother leaned over to me and whispered, "Your sister is going to be so mad that she missed this."

The kinds of classical music you will hear at a TSO concert are louder, fast and powerful music. Think "Mars, the Bringer of War", Beethoven's "5th Symphony", and "O Fortuna". You are not going to find "Brahms Lullaby" here! For their Christmas music, they have original songs like "Wizards of Winter" and some traditional Christmas carols that they added a bit of a rock 'n' roll touch to, like "Carol of the Bells."

You can learn more about the band at their website and hear some selections of their work.

West Music also carries the sheet music from their CDs and shortly will be carrying the electric violins, violas, and celli designed by co-founder and violinist Mark Wood.

Check out the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and you will soon realize just how cool it is to be a band geek.