Tarja

Born in Kitee, Finland, Tarja Turunen initially trained in classical singing at the Sibelius Academy and then at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, before establishing her soprano voice in a register between symphonic metal, power metal and a lyrical approach. Tarja became known from 1996 as the singer of Nightwish, a band with which she helped popularize a form of metal combining guitars, orchestration and singing inspired by the classical repertoire, on albums such as Angels Fall First (1997), Oceanborn (1998), Wishmaster (2000), Century Child (2002) and Once (2004). After leaving the band in 2005, Tarja launched her solo career with Henkäys ikuisuudesta (2006), then continued with My Winter Storm (2007), What Lies Beneath (2010), Colours in the Dark (2013), Ave Maria – En Plein Air (2015), The Shadow Self (2016), In the Raw (2019) and Dark Christmas (2023). Her career alternates between metal tours, concerts with orchestra and appearances at festivals such as Wacken and Graspop, while maintaining a link to the classical repertoire, notably in Savonlinna. Tarja also led the Outlanders project, oriented more toward atmospheric electronic pop, and collaborated with Scorpions, Within Temptation and Marko Hietala.