On Dec. 1, 2016, Derek Wieland told The Blade his symphonic progressive hard rock act Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings feelings of escapism and hope through its The Ghosts of Christmas Eve live production. He said at the time he thought fans needed both.

Almost a year later, he’s back on the phone making the same claim. Only this time he said it’s the orchestra that needs to feel that escapism.

“We’ve had a very challenging year,” the music director and keyboardist said. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra stops in Toledo on Friday for performances at 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Huntington Center, 500 Jefferson Ave.

The orchestra, which includes 20 singers and another 20 musicians (guitars, strings, keyboards, drums, bass), was hit with two events this year that would affect the band forever. News broke in April that Paul O’Neill, the orchestra’s founder and musical mastermind, had died unexpectedly. He was found in his room at a Tampa Embassy Suites by hotel staff. He was 61.

“He was one of these very unusual people who was able to connect so intimately with so many people,” Wieland said. “He left behind hundreds and thousands of very close friends. People were very touched by his life, not just from this incredible band and music and story that he created, which people are uplifted by and are moved by, but he also touched people just as an unusual person who was so kind.”

Then came another hard pill to swallow in July. Touring bassist David Zablidowsky, also known as Dave Z, was killed when an RV belonging to his band Adrenaline Mob was struck by a tractor trailer.

“When the band is putting this [production] together, we are playing the way [Dave Z] would’ve played and joking the way he would’ve and he just would’ve been so happy to see what we’re doing and we know that,” Wieland said. “The show is an emotional show and it’s a very dramatic show because it’s so majestic and epic in the numbers. There isn’t anything like it visually.”

In the face of tragedy, not even death would put an end to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In fact, Wieland said now more than ever is the time to keep pursuing the band’s musical mission.

“It’s a tribute to [Paul O’Neill] that we’re able to not just go on but to have the right people doing the right things who are able to do this and continue to be creative with it,” Wieland said. “If you think about all the bands in rock history, there are some who have lost a crucial person and have gone on and have gone on in a certain form. It’s not very often it can happen.

“This is something he wanted, which was for it to be something bigger than him and bigger than what it is. It’s something with the real stories and real meaning and is something that brings people together.”

More than 14,000 people will watch the energetic musicians perform on a set that will tell the story of 1999’s The Ghosts of Christmas Eve, as well as many of the band’s previous hits. The story is about a runaway who breaks into an abandoned theater and is discovered by the building’s caretaker who then uses the theater’s ghosts to help the person on Christmas Eve.

The band also will perform such traditional songs as “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” as well as some new songs.

The orchestra divides itself in half during its six-week tour and performs two shows in two cities on the same day. After the tour ends, the band, which travels in 26 tour buses and 36 other trucks full of equipment, will had performed 120 shows in a matter of six weeks.

That’s something even Wieland can’t always wrap his mind around. Now, he said, the spirits of O’Neill and Dave Z only push the orchestra that much more.

“We’ve all had this experience where we lose somebody and we know what they would’ve wanted, and we’re doing what we know Paul would’ve wanted,” he said. “We’re doing it for him and we can hear him whispering in our ear all the time.”

Contact Geoff Burns at gburns@theblade.com or 419-724-6054.

First Published November 30, 2017, 1:07 a.m.