Pink Floyd + Queen = Trans-Siberian Orchestra

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In the decade since Trans-Siberian Orchestra debuted, the group has sold more than five million albums and performed before more than two million fans in sold-out venues across the country. On Nov. 3, the Wizards of Winter return with their biggest touring production yet - an eight-week, 117-show arena tour that will thrill audiences from coast to coast. Tickets for the entire tour will go on sale to fan club members on Sept. 12, and will be available to the general public starting on Sept. 15. For each ticket purchased, one dollar will be donated to local charities.

The passionate fan base that has made TSO both the most successful annual tour in North America and the hottest ticket of the winter, already knows to expect the unexpected from the group's concert performances, which combine the arena-rock spectacles of Pink Floyd and the musicality of Queen. This year the group plans to add even more elements to its live sensory extravaganza, which already includes an orchestral string section, a full rock band, multiple vocalists, a narrator, extensive pyrotechnics, a stunning laser and light show and even a snowfall.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra was born when Paul O'Neill approached longtime friends Jon Oliva, Robert Kinkel, and Al Pitrelli to help him record the song "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), " a holiday-inspired instrumental with a rock n' roll edge. The song -- which combined the timeless melodies of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Carol Of The Bells" with new, original music - was an instant radio hit, garnering airplay in diverse formats from classical to pop, and metal to adult-contemporary.

In 1996, "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" became the centerpiece of "Christmas Eve and Other Stories, " the group's double-platinum debut album. It showcased the group's unique "symphonic rock, " which fuses elements of pop, folk, Broadway, R&B, hard rock and orchestral music into a distinctive blend of original compositions and classical standards. Critics from such well-known publications as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and People championed the group's music as one of the most ambitious and unique sounds of modern times, with Rolling Stone praising its "stately yuletide rock operas with high-concept subject matter and majestic processionals."

After the release of 1998's "The Christmas Attic" -- which, along with "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" and 2004's "The Lost Christmas Eve, " is now one of the 10 best-selling holiday records annually -- the demand for live TSO performances became overwhelming. Nearly a decade later, it still is. Billboard, which praises TSO's winter tour as a "rock extravaganza that incorporates elaborate staging, metal mixed with Christmas carols and dazzling visuals, " now calls the group "a winter staple, " and this holiday season -- when the group will also perform material from its 2000 album, "Beethoven's Last Night, " as well as the forthcoming "Night Castle" -- TSO is on pace to sell more than one million albums, and nearly as many concert tickets.

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