Projection Lights & Staging News recently showcased the production work behind the annual Christmas season touring juggernaut, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Following is an excerpt from an interview with tour director Elliot Saltzman and production / lighting designer Bryan Hartley.

Saltzman: "When this started, Paul (O'Neill / founder) knew we had an opportunity to take something that nobody understood and to make it a hit. At first it was something small, and now here we are, 20 years later, and we are among Live Nation’s highest ticket sellers. More people have seen Trans-Siberian Orchestra than the Rolling Stones in America. Think about that. We are playing to a million people a year.

For Paul, it was never, ever about the money. It was about people coming to a TSO show, younger and older people together, being entertained and never gouging them. It is about the music, and the story, and seeing lasers and lights and pyrotechnics and now video, all in a way that you’ve never seen before. I love watching the audience. They’re turning around and marveling at everything going on. Some of them are seeing things they have never experienced in a live show, which was what Paul wanted to create. It is a great feeling to be part of making that happen.”

Read the complete story here 

The New Orleans Advocate recently caught up with Trans-Siberian Orchestra / Savatage's Al Pitrelli (guitars) and Jeff Plate (drums) to discuss the touring juggernaut's status following the passing of mastermind / director Paul O'Neill in 2017. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Q: Describe the emotions of last year, touring for the first time since Paul O’Neill’s death.

Pitrelli: "It was probably one of the hardest years of our professional careers. Both Jeff and I have been with Paul since the jump. And to have the carpet pulled from beneath us so suddenly and tragically last year really just put us all in a different mindset. There were a few moments in the show where I really had a difficult time getting through it. You can't get it out of your head that he's gone because everything around you, he created. Everything on that stage, every note we played and every pyro hit, was his creation. Jeff and I spent half of our lives sitting next to the man in studios and on tour buses. He was there with us at all times. He was like a big brother, aside from being our boss and our producer and creator of this whole thing.

I think sorrow and the pain that goes along with losing a loved one was prevalent with everybody. But Paul had always said, 'We want this thing to live long past all of us.' I don't think any of us were prepared for that to occur so soon, but we were handed that task. And with his family steering the ship, we hunkered down last year to make the show the best it could possibly be. And that this year is exceeding last year's ticket sales just means that Paul was right as usual. This will live past all of us."

Plate: "Paul was the guy running around the floor of the arena pointing out a certain light wasn't the right color or wasn't in the right place, or somebody wasn't properly positioned on stage, or a vocalist wasn't exuding enough emotion. So to do this without Paul, obviously it's difficult, but he prepared us for this. He talked about how Trans-Siberian Orchestra was going to be something for the ages. And to think that we would be carrying on without him, it wasn't in the plans, but here we are. For us to honor Paul, we've got to go out and be the best we can be every time."

Read the complete interview here.