TARJA TURUNEN: North American Dates Announced

October 28, 2008

Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen has announced the following North American shows for 2009:

Apr. 29 - The Fillmore NY @ Irving Plaza - New York, NY
May 01 - Le Medley - Montreal, QC
May 02 - Opera House - Toronto, ON
May 04 - House Of Blues - Chicago, IL
May 07 - Regency Center - San Francisco, CA
May 08 - House Of Blues - Hollywood, CA

Fan-filmed video footage of Tarja Turunen's October 21, 2008 concert at the Incheba Arena in Prague, Czech Republic can be viewed below (clip uploaded by "SingForMeTarjaT").

Tarja Turunen's backing band for her current European solo tour is as follows:

Mike Terrana (MASTERPLAN, ex-RAGE) - drums
Maria Ilmoniemi - keyboards
Oliver Holzwarth (BLIND GUARDIAN, ex-SIEGES EVEN) - bass
Alex Scholpp (ex-FARMER BOYS) - guitar
Max Lilja (HEVEIN, ex-APOCALYPTICA) - cello

A recent audio interview with Tarja Turunen conducted by Vassil Varbanov of Bulgaria's Tangra Mega Rock is available for download at this location (MP3, 4 MB).

On the subject of her current touring lineup, Tarja said, "Alex Scholpp (FARMER BOYS),who played guitar on my record and on the two European tours, couldn't come to South America, so I was having Kiko Loureiro. You know, all these musicians that are playing with me are session musicians, so I have to give them time to do their own business with their own bands... Now in Europe there will be Oliver Holzwarth from BLIND GUARDIAN playing the bass instead of Doug Wimbish, who is touring with LIVING COLOUR. The rest of the band will be the same — Alex will be again on guitar, Mike Terrana (ex-RAGE) on drums, Maria Ilmoniemi on keyboards and Max Lilja (ex-APOCALYPTICA) on cello."

Asked if she is going to record her next album with the same musicians, Tarja replied, "Yes, but you know, when I'm writing songs or selecting material, it's always up to the feeling I have about what kind of musicians I'm going to work on each song. I have very different kinds of songs — there are these film-music-type of songs, and then metal, metal, metal, ha-ha! These are differend kinds of styles, so not every musician can play both types of music. The musician has to be an open-minded person. Doug Wimbish, for example, is a great man for this job, because he can play various music styles. However, I can't tell you for sure which musicians are going to be part of my next album, because it depends a lot on the songs."

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