Tarja Turunen
- MEMBERS:
- Tarja Turunen - Vocals
- Kevin Chown - Bass
- Christian Kretschmar - Keyboards
- Max Lilja - Cello
- Alex Scholpp - Guitars
- Timm Schreiner - Drums
BIOGRAPHY
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 for nine years the voice and image of the Finnish symphonic metal band NIGHTWISH, collecting with them Gold and Platinum Record Awards in several countries.
The unique combination of metal music with Tarja’s soprano lead vocals gave birth to a new genre, quickly achieving critical and commercial popularity and inspiring many other metal bands and performers. But singing only somebody else’s creations was not her destiny, and her talent could fully bloom only outside that crate. Tarja had to walk alone.
Finally free to follow her own inspirations, heart, and dreams, Tarja started her own solo career successfully devoted to both classical and rock music. Since 2005 she dedicates every December in bringing to Finland and also abroad the magic of her Christmas shows.
The Christmas album Henkäys Ikuisuudesta achieved the double Platinum Record Award in Finland and was selected as the “Christmas album of the year” from all the local radio stations in the country. Tarja’s classical performances are not limited to Christmas shows, as she performed chamber music concerts with orchestras and different line-ups in many countries throughout the years. She also walked twice the famous opera stage of the Olavinlinna Castle at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland, performing with Raimo Sirkia and José Cura. The latest outcome of Tarja’s deep love for classical music has been the recording at the Lakeuden Risti Church in Seinajoki, Finland, of her first classical studio album Ave Maria – En Plein Air, released internationally in 2015 and welcomed by ecstatic reviews.
Tarja’s flawless ability to blend rock and classical music found its perfect combination in her project Beauty and the Beat in collaboration with the American drummer Mike Terrana. Accompanied by symphonic orchestra and choir, the tour presented an unique program that included among others Puccini, Mozart, Bach, Led Zeppelin, Queen and her own songs. A step forwards after the successful experiences of “Classic and Divine” in Miskolc, Hungary in 2010 and at the Masters of Rock Festival in Czech Republic the same year, but not the last one. Tarja did once again share the stage with symphonic orchestra and choir for a special Orchestral Tour in Russia in March 2016.
There has also been many collaborations and side projects for Tarja throughout the years, from the electronic project Outlanders, using texts and inspired by the writer Paulo Coelho to a tour with Alice Cooper. Tarja has successfully collaborated in recordings with Within Temptation, #1 Dutch Symphonic Rock band with more than 18.000.000 views on YouTube with their song together, the German #1 electronic artist Schiller with whom Tarja co-wrote a song pre-nominated for the Grammy Awards in USA, the Hard Rock legend Doro Pesch, the biggest Rock German selling artist of all times Scorpions and with British father of the acclaimed Tubular Bells Mike Oldfield with whom she co-wrote a song inspired and recorded in Antigua.
But the unique synergy between Tarja’s classical and rock inspirations is fully expressed in her solo rock career, which officially started when her first solo studio album My Winter Storm was released internationally in 2007 in more than 80 countries by Universal Music, achieving Gold Record Awards in Hungary, Czech Republic and Germany and Platinum Record Awards in Finland and Russia. The successful and unanimously praised debut album was followed by What Lies Beneath in 2010 and then by Colours in the Dark, released in 2013 by EarMusic. The mellifluous blending of genres that characterized her music since the beginning reached a whole new sound in her latest creation. In its first week of release, Colours in the Dark charted at a vibrant #5 in Finland and Russia, and #6 in Germany. The world tour that followed saw Tarja performing 107 shows in 32 countries, stirring vivid emotions from the crowds gathered in front of her stage. For Tarja the chance of performing live on stage in front of her audience has been as important, if not more, as the work done in the studio, and she performed more than 700 shows worldwide during her career so far.
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 even more, the only one to do it both in a band and as solo artist. Recently she has also been busy starring as coach in the latest two seasons of The Voice of Finland, which is the most watched TV-program from Channel 4 in Finland.
Tarja’s new rock album The Shadow Self and its prequel The Brightest Void have been recorded during 2015 in different part of the world and EarMusic will release them in summer 2016. They are already announced as another important milestone in Tarja’s career, and one thing for sure, they will fulfill the promises and high expectations created by her previous releases.
VIDEOS
DISCOGRAPHY
In The Raw / 2019
1. Dead Promises (with Björn “Speed” Strid)
2. Goodbye Stranger (with Cristina Scabbia)
3. Tears In Rain
4. Railroads
5. You And I
6. The Golden Chamber: Awaken / Loputon yö / Alchemy
7. Spirits Of The Sea
8. Silent Masquerade (with Tommy Karevik)
9. Serene
10. Shadow Play
From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a Dark Christmas) / 2017
1. “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
2. “Together”
3. “We Three Kings”
4. “Deck the Halls”
5. “Pie Jesu”
6. “Amazing Grace”
7. “O Tannenbaum”
8. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
9. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
10. “Feliz Navidad”
11. “What Child Is This”
12. “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”
From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a Dark Christmas) is the second classical and Christmas album, and the seventh studio album released by the Finnish soprano Tarja Turunen.
On the 22 September 2017, earMUSIC released a video announcing the existence of the album. A music video was released on the 6th of October, with Tarja singing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”.
With the album release comes also Tarja Turunen’s first graphic novel, From Spirits and Ghosts (Novel for a Dark Christmas). The 40-page novel is about the world of dark Christmas with accompanying art by Conor Boyle. The “novel for a dark Christmas” revolves around Tarja’s two characters, the dark and light one, bringing together lonely souls during the festive season.
The album has been critically acclaimed by critics and fans alike, who have noted the dark twist Turunen achieved on the album and the combination of different languages; however, critics have commented that the album will be largely forgotten after the Christmas holidays.
Background
The album includes 11 Christmas classics combined with darker gothic influences. Utilizing the sound of a grand orchestra, traditional songs such as “O Tannenbaum”, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Feliz Navidad” are included. Besides covering classic carols, “From Spirits and Ghosts” also features a 12th track, the original track “Together”. This song continues the dark sound of the album and embodies the theme of ghosts and mysticism throughout.
On December 8, Tarja released a second, “charity” version of “Feliz Navidad” as a way to help raise funds for Barbuda, an island that was severely damaged by Hurricane Irma. The track features guest vocals by Doro Pesch, Michael Monroe, Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica), Elize Ryd (Amaranthe), Marko Saaresto (Poets of the Fall), Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius), Simone Simons (Epica), Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil), Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) and Sharon Den Adel (Within Temptation).
Ave Maria – En Plein Air / 2015
1. “Ave Maria” Paolo Tosti
2. “Ave Maria” Axel von Kothen
3. “Ave Maria” David Popper
4. “Ave Maria” Camille Saint-Saëns
5. “Ave Maria” Astor Piazzolla
6. “Ave Maria” J.S.Bach / Charles Gounod
7. “Ave Maria” Pietro Mascagni
8. “Ave Maria” Ferenc Farkas
9. “Ave Maria” Vladimir Vavilov
10. “Ave Maria” Michael Hoppé
11. “Ave Maria” Charles-Marie Widor
12. “Ave Maria” Tarja Turunen
Ave Maria is the first classical, and the fifth studio album released by the Finnish soprano Tarja Turunen.
On the 22 July 2015, earMUSIC released a video announcing the existence of the album, following with a teaser trailer on 6 August. The full music video was not released until 13 August that year, with Tarja singing the rare “Ave Maria” by Paolo Tosti.
Background
In an interview with Winter Storm Slovakia, Tarja talked a little about the recording sessions :
“All the musicians performed the songs together with me without an audience” and continues saying “Nothing has been edited nor any studio tricks have been used” and finishes with “So what you hear on the record, is purely how the songs sounded in Lakeuden Risti church during the recording session.”
She also says that this is a very important album to her, since “It represents her long background in classical music and her knowledge as a lyrical singer”.
Henkäys ikuisuudesta / 2006
1. “Kuin Henkäys Ikuisuutta”
2. “You Would Have Loved This”
3. “Happy New Year”
4. “En Etsi Valtaa, Loistoa”
5. “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)”
6. “Varpunen Jouluaamuna”
7. “Ave Maria”
8. “The Eyes of a Child”
9. “Mökit Nukkuu Lumiset”
10. “Jo Joutuu Ilta”
11. “Marian Poika”
12. “Magnificat: Quia Respexit”
13. “Walking in the Air”
14. “Jouluyö, Juhlayö”
Henkäys Ikuisuudesta (officially translated as: Breath From Heaven) is the first solo album by Finnish singer Tarja Turunen, and focuses on the Christmas holiday season. On November 26, 2010, Nuclear Blast released a re-mastered version of the CD, bringing a new artwork and a semi-new track list, with “Heinillä Härkien” replacing “Happy New Year” and “Maa On Niin Kaunis” replacing “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)”; the new edition also contains the previously unpublished track “Arkihuolesi Kaikki Heitä”, which replaced “The Eyes of a Child”.
All of the tracks are covers, except for “Kuin Henkäys Ikuisuutta” which was written by Tarja and Esa Nieminen, and “En Etsi Valtaa, Loistoa” was released on Tarja’s “Yhden Enkelin Unelma” single in 2004, but the vocals have been re-recorded for this album. The music is composed by Jean Sibelius and the lyrics by Zacharias Topelius; Tarja also released “Walking in the Air” when she was a member of Nightwish, on their 1998 album Oceanborn. “Marian Poika” is the Finnish version of “Mary’s Boy Child” and “Jouluyö, Juhlayö” is “Silent Night”. The ABBA cover “Happy New Year” consists of both English and Spanish lyrics.
The first single of the album, “You Would Have Loved This”, was released in Finland on October 25. The album reached Gold and Platinum status in Finland with more than 50,000 sold copies, and charted as N° 2 on the official Finnish Albums Chart.
The Shadow Self / 2016
1. “Innocence”
2. “Demons in You” (featuring Alissa White-Gluz)
3. “No Bitter End”
4. “Love to Hate”
5. “Supremacy” (Muse cover)
6. “The Living End”
7. “Diva”
8. “Eagle Eye” (featuring Toni Turunen)
9. “Undertaker”
10. “Calling from the Wild”
11. “Too Many”
The Shadow Self is the sixth studio album released by Finnish vocalist Tarja Turunen. The record was released on 5 August 2016. The record produced two singles.
Background
The songwriting started just after the release of Colours in the Dark in 2013 and Tarja gave hints through her Facebook and Twitter accounts along the way. In the start of 2016 Tarja started to reveal more bits about the album and put up bits of lyrics on Facebook. Tarja also stated on her Twitter account that there would be two collaborations with two woman singers on the album.
On 17 October 2015, Tarja performed two new songs. “No Bitter End” and “Goldfinger”(a James Bond theme cover), which would be the first glimpses of the new album.
On 14 March 2016, the artwork and album name finally got revealed, Turunen said title of The Shadow Self was inspired by Scottish singer Annie Lennox: “I came across an Annie Lennox interview some time ago on the internet, and I was reading about her speaking about ‘the shadow self,’ about a darker side of us all. Everybody has a darker side, and we should probably just appreciate that it exists, but especially we artists. We get a lot of inspiration from our darker side”. On March 22, 2016, Earmusic released a snippet of “No Bitter End” on YouTube.
On 7 April 2016, Earmusic revealed the prequel named The Brightest Void, released on 3 June with nine tracks. It is an album by itself but also ties together with The Shadow Self. On 14 April 2016, Earmusic released a trailer for the coming video “No Bitter End”, the whole video will be released on 20 April. On 27 May 2016, Tarja announced The Brightest Void was available for streaming on Apple Music. The album was once again mixed in Austin, Texas at ’62 Studios by Tim Palmer.
The Shadow Self album was influenced by the Yin-Yang concept. The Brightest Void album respresents the light and The Shadow Self represents the darkness.
Colours in the Dark / 2013
1. “Victim of Ritual”
2. “500 Letters”
3. “Lucid Dreamer”
4. “Never Enough”
5. “Mystique Voyage”
6. “Darkness”
7. “Deliverance”
8. “Neverlight”
9. “Until Silence”
10. “Medusa” (featuring Justin Furstenfeld)
Colours in the Dark is the fourth studio album released by Finnish vocalist Tarja Turunen. The record was released on 30 August 2013, in Austria, Brazil, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland; 2 September in Norway, Poland, and the Czech Republic; 3 September in the United States and Canada; and 4 September in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK. Mixing was done by Tim Palmer in Austin, Texas in the United States. Tarja will start the Colours in the Dark World Tour on 17 October 2013, to promote the album. The name of the album, as the cover image, came as a metaphor from the idea that life has a large range of colors and the dark absorbs all of them, containing every color.
An official lyric video of the song “Never Enough” was released 31 May. The video was shot in Zlin, Czech Republic. The song was also released as a single on iTunes. The first music video for “Victim of Ritual” was shot in Berlin, Germany. and was released on 10 July. A promo teaser was released on 26 June. On 12 September 2013, Earmusic, Tarja’s label, announced that the second single taken from the album is going to be “500 Letters”. It would be released as a strictly limited CD single and download at the end of October. A promo teaser of the videoclip was released on 25 October and they announced that the premiere was going to be on 31 October. “500 Letters” was released on 1 November 2013 as a digital download only. On 20 February it was revealed on the blog that a new version of the album called Left in the Dark would be released later this year and will feature different versions of the songs on the original Colours in the Dark including acoustic versions of 500 Letters & Until Silence. A competition was held, with special prizes to the 5 best artworks.
Background
The vocal recordings of the album started late 2012 and continued throughout the beginning of 2013. Titles of the album’s songs were revealed from times to times through Tarja’s blog, like she did with My Winter Storm(2007). The album’s name came out of the song “Until Silence”. This is the third time the album’s name came out of one of the songs. The artwork and some promotional pictures for this album were taken mainly in Indiaduring the What Lies Beneath World Tour in 2011. During the end of that tour Tarja already performed “Into the Sun” and a different version of “Never Enough”. Both songs ended up on the Colours in the Dark album and were also featured on the Act I video album
During the process of composition, Tarja alleged that she “had to learn a lot as a soloist, for good and or evil, and often in the past years [she] thought that [she] would never reach a day coming to the point where [she is] today”, also adding that she had a lot of “positive and negative” experiences that would finish on this record, that is “very rich in colors, shadows, deep aspects and that it does not capture at the first listen”.
During the middle of 2013, Turunen began via Earmusic uploading two videos per week until the album itself was released.The official pre-listening started one week prior to the album’s release.
The album cover was created by artist Dirk Rudolph.
What Lies Beneath / 2010
1. “Anteroom of Death” (featuring Van Canto)
2. “Until My Last Breath”
3. “I Feel Immortal”
4. “In for a Kill”
5. “Underneath”
6. “Little Lies”
7. “Rivers of Lust”
8. “Dark Star” (featuring Phil Labonte)
9. “Falling Awake” (featuring Joe Satriani)
10. “The Archive of Lost Dreams”
11. “Crimson Deep”
What Lies Beneath is the third album by the Finnish singer Tarja Turunen, which was released on 1 September 2010 in Finland, on 3 September in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and on 14 September in Latin and North America. It is the first of Tarja’s albums in which she is credited for composition on every track. The album was mixed at ’62 Studios in Austin Texas by Tim Palmer
In 2008, after the first leg of the Storm World Tour, Turunen took time to compose new songs. She announced in her blog two songs that she had composed in her time off, “Wisdom of Wind” and “Enough”, both later released on the My Winter Storm extended edition. On January 25, Turunen announced on her blog the name of her follow-up to My Winter Storm and talked about the album, revealing titles and lyrics. What Lies Beneath, which sold around 1,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release, landed at position 24 on the Billboard’s Top Heatseekers, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists. In Finland, it was at 6th position after two months on the official Finnish charts, also spending two months on the German Top 100, one and a half months on the Austrian Top 40, and a full month on the charts in Switzerland, Belgium and Greece, ending 2010 at 13th position on Billboard’s Top 100 of best-selling albums in Europe.
To promote the album, Turunen started the What Lies Beneath World Tour on 12 June 2010, which ended on 8 April 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It started with a special concert in Rio de Janeiro, during the big international festival Rock in Rio, on 15 September 2011. Tarja’s first live DVD, Act I, was filmed during two nights in Rosario, Argentina, on 30 and 31 March 2012.
My Winter Storm / 2007
1 Ite, Missa Est
2 I Walk Alone
3 Lost Northern Star
4 Seeking For The Reign
5 The Reign
6 The Escape Of The Doll
7 My Little Phoenix
8 Boy And The Ghost
9 Sing For Me
10 Oasis
11 Poison
12 Our Great Divide
13 Sunset
14 Damned And Divine
15 Die Alive
16 Minor Heaven
17 Ciarán’s Well
18 Calling Grace
My Winter Storm is the second solo album by Finnish singer Tarja Turunen, and the first to consist mainly of new and original songs specifically written by or for Turunen. The album was released by Universal Music on 19 November 2007 in Finland, on 2 January 2008 in South America and on February 26 in North America and in the United Kingdom was also released a special version limited in 300 copies.
The album was recorded with the collaboration of various artists, including cellist Martin Tillman, guitarist Kiko Loureiro and composer James Dooley, with Turunen also playing additional keyboards. The album contains several music styles including alternative rock and classical music, and it was recorded in different studios in Finland, Brazil, Ireland, USA, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and the Czech Republic.
My Winter Storm has sold Platinum in Finland and Double Platinum in Russia, and also reached Tarja’s first gold disc in her entire career in the Czech Republic; the album spent two and a half months on the Official Finnish Albums Chart, reaching the highest position right during the first week, also spending four months on German Top 100, two months on Swiss Top 100 and also a full month on the Austrian Top 40, ending 2007 at 11th position on Billboard’s Top 100 European albums with more than 500,000 copies sold.
To promote the album, Tarja played the Storm World Tour, that took place from Berlin on November 25, 2007, to London on October 19, 2009.
REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS
Metropolis alive from Tarja’s Act II
Act II is what every fan of the Finnish soprano Tarja Turunen has been waiting for. After the success of Act I, Turunen released the live album ‘Act II’ that
August 28, 2018 by Anastasia KonstantinidouTOURDATES
Date | Venue | City | Country | Info | Tickets |
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2024-12-14T19:00:00 | Dark Christmas Tour 2024 | Olomouc | Czech Republic | Info | Tickets |
2024-12-15T19:00:00 | Dark Christmas Tour 2024 | Ostrava | Czechia | Info | Tickets |
2024-12-16T19:00:00 | Dark Christmas Tour 2024 | Zlín 1 | Czechia | Info | Tickets |
2024-12-18T19:00:00 | Dark Christmas Tour 2024 | Plzeň-město | Czechia | Info | Tickets |
2024-12-19T19:00:00 | Dark Christmas Tour 2024 | Prague | Czech Republic | Info | Tickets |
2024-12-21T19:00:00 | Dark Christmas Tour 2024 | Budapest | Hungary | Info | Tickets |
2024-12-22T19:00:00 | Dark Christmas Tour 2024 | Cluj-napoca | Romania | Info | Tickets |
2024-12-23T19:00:00 | Dark Christmas Tour 2024 | Bucharest | Romania | Info | Tickets |
2025-02-23T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Tallinn | Estonia | Info | Tickets |
2025-02-25T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Rīga | Latvia | Info | Tickets |
2025-02-26T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Vilnius | Lithuania | Info | Tickets |
2025-02-27T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Gdańsk | Poland | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-01T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Warsaw | Poland | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-02T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Kraków | Poland | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-03T19:00:00 | Living The Drream - Together Tour 2025 | Wrocław | Poland | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-05T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Košice I | Slovakia | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-06T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Banská Bystrica | Slovakia | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-07T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Zlín | Czechia | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-09T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Bratislava I | Slovakia | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-10T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Ljubljana | Slovenia | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-11T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Zagreb | Croatia | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-13T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Budapest | Hungary | Info | Tickets |
2025-03-29T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Beograd | Serbia | Info | Tickets |
2025-04-02T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Varna | Bulgaria | Info | Tickets |
2025-04-04T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Sofia | Bulgaria | Info | Tickets |
2025-04-05T19:00:00 | Living The Dream -Together Tour 2025 | Skopje | North Macedonia | Info | Tickets |
2025-04-06T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Thessaloniki | Greece | Info | Tickets |
2025-04-08T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Athina | Greece | Info | Tickets |
2025-04-10T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Ataşehir | Turkey | Info | Tickets |
2025-05-16T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Dyn | Argentina | Info | Tickets |
2025-05-18T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Curitiba | Brazil | Info | Tickets |
2025-05-20T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Belo Horizonte | Brazil | Info | Tickets |
2025-05-22T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Porto Alegre | Brazil | Info | Tickets |
2025-05-24T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | São Paulo | Brazil | Info | Tickets |
2025-05-26T19:00:00 | Living The Dream - Together Tour 2025 | Santiago | Chile | Info | Tickets |
2025-06-27T14:00:00 | Suvilahti | Helsinki | Finland | Info | Tickets |
2025-06-28T12:00:00 | Tons of Rock 2025 | Oslo | Norway | Info | Tickets |