Chris Pinnella

Ask any vocal artist you happen to see, and they will tell you it takes a certain kind of guts and gumption to step out in front of the freight train that is a symphony orchestra or sizable jazz organization -- to take the helm of a precision music machine whose hundreds of man hours of rehearsal and preparation now hinge upon that solitary figure at center stage. Sounds pretty scary -- but for Chris Pinnella it's the stuff of natural habitat; an environment that the versatile vocalist has thrived in, whether performing with symphony orchestras around the country, leading his own combos of anywhere from 8 to 15 players, or (for several tours of North America and Europe) lending his finely honed skills to the prog-rock / crossover locomotive known as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. That association with the late Paul O'Neil's spectacularly scaled project netted the New Jersey native a platinum record for his contributions to 'The Lost Christmas Eve' tour, and a chance to perform for an audience of over 1 million people, during a particularly raucous New Year's Eve in Berlin.