TARJA TURUNEN
August 6, 2018 - 8:30 pm

The brightest star of the symphonic rock scene, Tarja Turunen is certainly the most internationally well-known Finnish voice in the world of music. Soprano, composer and songwriter, she reached international fame co-founding and being the voice and image of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish for 9 years, collecting with them Gold and Platinum Record Awards in several countries. Following her departure from the band in 2005, Tarja started her own solo career successy devoting herself to both classical and rock music.

BIOGRAPHY

Since then, her successes have been numerous, most notably her Christmas album ‘Henkäys Ikuisuudesta’ which achieved the double Platinum Record Award in Finland and her first classical studio album ‘Ave Maria – En Plein Air’, released internationally in 2015, which received rave reviews by the international press. Tarja’s flawless ability to blend rock and classical music has allowed her to widen her musical spectrum. For instance in her project ‘Beauty and the Beat’, in collaboration with the American drummer Mike Terrana, she was accompanied by a symphonic orchestra and choir. The project allowed her to tour presenting a unique program that included renditions of Puccini, Mozart, Bach, Led Zeppelin, Queen and her own songs.

There have been many collaborations and side projects for Tarja down the years, whether it’s her electronic project Outlanders (using texts and inspired by the writer Paulo Coelho) or touring with Alice Cooper. She has even collaborated on some tracks with Scorpions, Within Temptation, Schiller, Doro Pesch and Mike Oldfield.

Her success has also been recognized at numerous award ceremonies. Tarja was nominated for the Emma Award in Finland in 2006 and 2007 and for the Echo Award in Germany in 2007, and she is the first Finnish solo artist to achieve a Gold Record in Germany and the only one to do it both in a band and as solo artist.

Tarja’s album ‘The Shadow Self’ and its prequel ‘The Brightest Void’ were both released in 2016 with earMusic and were well received and following those successes, in November 2017, Tarja released an surprising album: ‘From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a Dark Christmas)’, giving a dark twist to the traditional and most popular Christmas carols portraying the songs differently by giving them a gothic feel unlike any that’s ever been heard before for Christmas songs.