Ex-NIGHTWISH Singer TARJA TURUNEN: Photos From Christmas Tour Kick-Off Posted Online

Tarja Turunen Fan site has uploaded several pictures of former NIGHTWISH frontwoman Tarja Turunen performing at the opening show of her Christmas tour at Savonlinna-Sali in Savonlinna, Finland on Thursday (Dec. 1). Check them out at this location.

In other news, Romania's Muzici si Faze magazine recently conducted an interview with Turunen. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Q: You had the major role in creating the musical success of NIGHTWISH, which turned to be a real "trademark" if we may say so. Not to mention the good publicity Finnish rock scene had through your work. What have been several of the most important musical achievements of your career?

Tarja: "It was a couple of years ago when I realized that I could sing the songs of NIGHTWISH without major problems. It took me many years to learn how to use my voice in that kind of music and mostly the problems at the beginning existed on stage while I was performing with the band. There was no one to help me with the technical problems, so I needed to find the solutions on my own.

"The whole career of NIGHTWISH has been a long learning process where I was trying to make progress as a singer. It was very challenging and interesting. It felt great to receive the first gold record award from Finland in 2000. There will be a day that I might understand better the value of all those amazing awards that NIGHTWISH has achieved during nine years of career."

Q: Could you tell us which direction is your solo career going to take from now on. You already tour with classical repertoire for some years. However, should we expect you to release (on a regular basis) albums oriented towards pop music, for example, or will you continue in the "rock/metal" world?

Tarja: "I see myself as a singer, not a particular cathegorized singer doing only one kind of music style. Now many people are thinking that I will be only making opera since I have been doing classical music for so long, even before NIGHTWISH and also during the band’s career. I will definitely be making classical concerts or taking part in opera productions in the future, but this doesn't mean that I will be making ONLY classical music.

"NIGHTWISH gave me a huge life experience in many ways. It introduced me into metal music and I was accepted in this genre, as myself, no matter what my background was. I learned to like some bands, sounds and elements of metal in my long career with this music style. This means me so much that I just cannot throw it to the garbage. I will use some elements, sound wise from metal in my solo albums. This doesn't mean still that I will be making a metal album! By combining these elements with my voice and a classical orchestra I will reach a bombastic sound and that is something I would love to hear. That sound does not exist in a music market nowadays. Production-wise my goal is very ambitious and I will need help from many musicians and producers."

Read the entire interview at this location.