In a new interview with the Lazer 103.3 radio station, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA (TSO) musical director/guitarist Al Pitrelli was asked if there is any chance fans will get new studio material from the band at all in the future. Al responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The easy answer would be, like, ‘Yeah, sure.'”
Referencing TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA‘s late rock industry veteran, producer, composer and musician Paul O’Neill, who died in 2017, Pitrelli continued: “Listen, when we lost Paul, not only did I lose my brother and my best friend, his wife lost her husband, his daughter lost her father. We lost the producer, the guy who created this whole thing, the writer, the visionary.
“Yeah, there’s plenty of unfinished material that exists,” Al confirmed. “But I don’t know. I want [Paul] to sit in that chair to make those final decisions, when to hit the ‘stop’ button. So, out of respect for him, I’m just gonna say I don’t know. I think you and so many other people, myself included, would love to have some new material out. I don’t know.
“When [Paul] passed away, it was, like, ‘Oh my God. How are we going to put a tour out?'” Al added. “I don’t think that that punch in the stomach ever really goes away, that hole in your heart. So I haven’t given too much thought to newer material. We’ll get to it. But I appreciate you bringing that up.”
TSO was created to push the boundaries of what was possible for a band to create — both musically and visually. O’Neill dreamed of a different kind of “band” that is not limited by the confines of traditional rock acts and instead established one with multiple singers who could inhabit the various characters he was writing into his rock operas.
Although TSO is best known for their Capra-esque trilogy of holiday records — “Christmas Eve & Other Stories”, “The Christmas Attic” and “The Lost Christmas Eve” — they have also released several other rock operas. “Beethoven’s Last Night” (2000) was the first of these non-holiday rock operas and tells a compelling tale of a battle for Beethoven‘s soul between good and evil. It features instrumental crossovers between classical composers and contemporary rock, along with original vocal tracks featuring Patti Russo as the character Teresa, Beethoven‘s love. Later albums take on great themes such as war and redemption, namely “Night Castle” (2009). “Night Castle” was TSO‘s first Top 5 album debut and included a bonus track featuring Greg Lake (EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, KING CRIMSON),who was one of TSO‘s greatest influences. TSO‘s latest album, “Letters From The Labyrinth” (2015),was another Top 10 release for the band. In total, TSO has sold in excess of 12 million albums and DVDs.
Consistently one of the Top 25 touring acts in the country, TSO shows no signs of slowing down. Since its touring debut in 1999, TSO has played over 2,000 Winter Tour shows for more than 20 million fans. So far TSO has also donated over $20 million from these tours to local charities.
At the time of his passing, O’Neill had several TSO projects in various stages of completion at his recording studio in Florida. He also had two finalized rock operas: “Romanov: When Kings Must Whisper”, about the 1917 Russian Revolution, along with a live concert adaptation of “Night Castle”. O’Neill also planned to eventually bring the TSO experience to Broadway. Nearly 30 years after the release of their first album, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA continues to create and live on.
With an incredible $1 billion in gross sales, TSO‘s remarkable and consistent appeal is reflected in recent industry accolades: Pollstar recognized TSO at No. 4 for Top North America Tours and at No. 6 on their Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart by gross for Midyear 2025, while Billboard placed them at No. 5 in Midyear 2025 Top Ticket Sales and No. 13 on the Midyear 2025 Top Tours chart. Adding to their impressive achievements, their iconic hit “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” has surpassed 100 million streams across digital platforms, further cementing its status as a timeless holiday classic.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source blabbermouth.net ’
