Al Pitrelli (born September 26, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his work with the

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is an American rock band founded in 1996 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill (producer), Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli (both members of Savatage) and keyboardist and co-pr ...

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

and

Savatage Savatage () is an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album '' Sirens'' (1983), they changed t ...

. He has performed with various acts as a band member, session musician and touring member, including

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton performed in the hard rock and heavy metal music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo a ...

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, Dee Snider,

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, Exposé and

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer best known for his work with Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Yngwie Malmsteen. Turner joined Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow in the early 1980 ...

Career

Early career (1982–1999)

Pitrelli attended the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the early 1980s, where future

bandmate and keyboardist

Derek Sherinian Derek Sherinian (born August 25, 1966) is an American keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Joe Bonamassa, among others. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999, is the founder of Planet X (ban ...

was his dorm roommate. While at Berklee, Pitrelli formed an original 1980s metal band with classmates that included future

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

guitarist Mike Hickey. After dropping out of Berklee, Pitrelli worked as a session musician and taught guitar lessons in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and in Bellmore, New York. His first major label gig was performing with

, helping him support his single " Fool's Game". Pitrelli said of the single, "This was when Michael Bolton was still trying to be

Sammy Hagar Sam Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose before launching a ...

and not Engelbert Humperdinck." In 1989, Pitrelli featured as second guitar on the song "Uptown" on bassist Randy Coven's first album "Funk Me Tender". He then joined Coven and drummer John O'Reilly as a formal member of the Randy Coven Band to release ''Sammy Says Ouch!'' This lineup would also release an album titled ''CPR'' under the band name Coven, Pitrelli, Reilly. Pitrelli was

's guitarist and musical director from 1989 to 1991, having been recommended to the band by

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

, and appeared on the '' Trashes The World'' video album, in addition to co-writing the song "Burning Our Bed" from the '' Hey Stoopid'' (1991) album. He later joined Dee Snider's band Widowmaker for two albums in the early/mid–1990s, and also briefly played with

Stephen Pearcy Stephen Eric Pearcy (born July 3, 1956) is an American musician who is the founder, singer, songwriter of the heavy metal band Ratt. He has also created the bands Firedome, Crystal Pystal, Arcade, Vicious Delite, and Vertex. He has also reco ...

Ratt Ratt (stylized as RATT) was an American glam metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum and multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA. ...

in a band called Vertex. Pitrelli also joined

, appearing on their albums '' Aqua'' (1992) and ''

Aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

'' (1994). He would go on to be featured on many New York sessions, including for

and Exposé. From February to March 1999, Pitrelli toured with

as a substitute for

Allen Lanier Allen Glover Lanier (; June 25, 1946 – August 14, 2013) was an American musician who played keyboards and guitar. He was an original member of Blue Öyster Cult. Early life and education Lanier was born in Birmingham, Alabama and later rel ...

Savatage (1995–2000, 2002, 2015, 2023)

Pitrelli joined

in 1995, around the same time as guitarist Chris Caffery returned to the band, who had previously been part of the band around the release of '' Gutter Ballet'' in 1989. Pitrelli played guitar on the albums '' Dead Winter Dead'' (1995) and '' The Wake of Magellan'' (1997), and performed some lead guitar work on '' Poets and Madmen'' (2001), despite being a member of

at the time. On the latter album, Pitrelli was played the outro of "Stay with Me a While", the main solos of "Morphine Child" and "The Rumor", the first part of the main solo in "Commissar" and its outro. He left Savatage in 2000 join Megadeth and rejoined the band following Megadeth's disbandment in 2002. Savatage split up later that year, but reunited for an appearance at

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all ...

in 2015 and the recording of a new album in 2023.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (1995–present)

In 1995, Pitrelli was asked by Savatage's producer Paul O'Neill to join his new project, the

. Pitrelli has been a core member of the band since their debut album, ''

Christmas Eve and Other Stories ''Christmas Eve and Other Stories'' is the debut studio album by American symphonic metal band Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was released on October 15, 1996, through Lava Records and Atlantic Records. It is the first album in the band's "Christm ...

'', was released in 1996. In addition to being the band's main lead guitarist, he is also the live musical director. TSO's 2007 tour program describes Pitrelli's "edgy playing and vast musical lexicon" as key components for contributing to the band's constant boundary-pushing

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

stylings. Pitrelli's leads are notable on "Tracers" and the instrumental "Toccata – Carpimus Noctem", the latter being a piece he co-wrote. Both songs form part of the group's fifth rock opera, on their 2009 album ''

Night Castle ''Night Castle'' is the fifth studio album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was released on October 28, 2009 as a double CD with a 60-page booklet illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt, and debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard charts and No. 1 on t ...

''. Following founder O'Neill's death in 2017, Pitrelli has continued performing with the band while O'Neill's role has been taken over by his family.

Megadeth (2000–2002)

Pitrelli was a member of

from 2000 to 2002, replacing guitarist

Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...

. He joined the band in the middle of their ''Risk'' tour and played his first show with Megadeth on 11 January 2000, two days after Friedman's final show. Pitrelli performed on their 2001 album '' The World Needs a Hero'', co-writing the song "Promises" and playing most of the album's guitar solos. He later appeared in an episode of

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's '' Behind the Music'' focusing on Megadeth. Pitrelli also performed with the band for the recording of the '' Rude Awakening'' live album that was released in 2002. Following Megadeth's disbandment in April 2002 due to an arm injury sustained by frontman

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth and for his time as the lead guitarist of Met ...

, Pitrelli rejoined Savatage and continued his work with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Al Pitrelli Guitar

Selected discography

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

* ''

'' (1996) * '' The Christmas Attic'' (1998) * '' The Ghosts of Christmas Eve'' (2000) * '' Beethoven's Last Night'' (2000) * ''

The Lost Christmas Eve ''The Lost Christmas Eve'' is the fourth studio album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was released on October 12, 2004, and is the last album in their "Christmas trilogy", with ''Christmas Eve and Other Stories'' (1996) and ''The Christmas ...

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2009) * '' Dreams of Fireflies'' (2012) * '' Tales of Winter: Selections from the TSO Rock Operas'' (2013) * ''

Letters From The Labyrinth ''Letters from the Labyrinth'' is the sixth studio album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was released on November 13, 2015. The album is a collection of songs and stories. The stories being a nod to their previous full album ''Night Castle'', ...

'' (2015)