Music News: Trans-Siberian Orchestra Announces 30th Anniversary Winter Tour
2026 Milestone Tour Showcases a Spectacular, Reimagined Production of ‘The Ghosts of Christmas Eve’
New York, NY – Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) will celebrate its landmark 30th anniversary with a major winter tour featuring a spectacular, reimagined staging of its treasured tale, “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” followed by a high-energy second set. Renowned for delivering fans the ultimate “value for their dollar,” TSO pairs its legendary audio/visual experience, complete with over-the-top lasers, pyrotechnics, and special effects, with fan-friendly ticket pricing that welcomes generations of fans year after year.
The foundation for this milestone was laid in 1996, when Paul O’Neill launched a project that would forever alter the music and holiday landscape. Since its formation, TSO has grown into a critically acclaimed, multi-platinum powerhouse progressive rock group, generating more than $1 billion in gross ticket sales and establishing its annual “rock theater” tour as a multi-generational tradition. Now, three decades later, the group is proud to bring this treasured production to cities across North America once again.
Based on TSO’s TV show and multi-platinum DVD, “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” follows the journey of a runaway who breaks into an abandoned vaudeville theater on December 24th. While seeking shelter from the cold, the teen is discovered by the theater’s caretaker, who uses the ghosts and spirits from the building’s past to turn her life around.
The rock opera features beloved songs originally forged by O’Neill and the group’s composers – tracks that have evolved into massive, permanent fixtures of modern culture. TSO’s signature hit, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” has achieved rare status as an untouchable seasonal juggernaut. Standing as the #3 best-selling holiday digital single in music history, the track alone has amassed more than 300 million global streams. Decades after its initial recording, the RIAA 3x Platinum-certified track remains in heavy seasonal radio rotation, dominates commercial soundtracks, and serves as the global standard for synchronized neighborhood and commercial animated light displays every winter.
Alongside the group’s signature single: TSO’s brilliant, Pachelbel-inspired “Christmas Canon,” which itself commands over 250 million streams, and enduring fan-favorites like “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Mad Russian Christmas,” “Wizards in Winter,” “Requiem (the Fifth)” and “This Christmas Day”, which also continue to anchor dozens of major holiday playlists across Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music, commanding top streaming numbers worldwide, year after year.
As in all previous years, at least a $1 of every ticket sold benefits select local charities. Driven by their massive fanbase, TSO has now sold more than 20 million tickets in total and distributed in excess of $20 million to worthy charities all across North America.
Based in Lakeland, FL, Jay Heilman has been an essential voice in Christian media since founding the website Christian Music Review (CMR) in 2004. This initial venture was followed by the launch of the Kingdom Builder podcast/video channel in 2009, further expanding the reach of CMR. In 2016, he rebranded CMR as Today's Christian Entertainment. He is not only TCE's founder, but also acts as the site's lead correspondent and co-host of Kingdom Builder.
Outside of TCE and Kingdom Builder, Jay is married to Shannon E., and they manage a lively home with six children and an incredible array of pets. When he’s not hanging out with his wife and kiddos, sharing the message of Jesus or attending amazing concerts, Jay enjoys relaxing and playing the guitar—an instrument he has passionately pursued for nearly 30 years.
Life Verse: Romans 8:28
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