by Chris Willow
— Guest Columnist —
Tarja Turunen (ex Nightwish), a gorgeous Finnish fairytale lady and her opera metal band Tarja are ready to rev you up and her as high as D6 soprano and her set list will part the Mediterranean Sea.
The interview with Tarja Turunen is always a pleasure…
Chris: Hi Tarja! It is Chris Willow for HardrockHaven.Net here. How is everything going for you today?
Tarja: Hi Chris and thanks for asking, all is well. I am just working hard for the future by being at home at the moment and at the same time enjoying the warming spring sun.
Chris: I saw your concerts in Warsaw, Poland 2012 and in Gdansk, Poland 2018 last October. Your vocal sounds extremely fresh and impressive live. Some rock vocalists have got trouble with their voices very often, through the years. What is the secret, you keep yours in such a marvelous condition?
Tarja: I keep on training lyrically my voice constantly and additionally I train physically several times in a week as well. Being the body, my instrument, I have to take good care of it. Thankfully I have never had any severe problems with my voice so far, so I tend to keep it like that. Touring is hard for any singer, but for me, if I really want to maintain a good singing condition, it means to keep things as healthy as I can around me, all the time.
Chris: You are one of the headliners for Rock The Coast Festival 2019 in Malaga, Spain. Have you ever performed at any Spanish coast, summer festival? Why did you choose to perform right there at this festival? Does performing at RTCF 2019 inspire you in any special way?
Tarja: I am very excited about this festival and my performance since it is going to be my first-time performance on the coast of Spain. I was very delighted to get an invitation from the promoters of the festival to take part in the bill. I am sure I am going to have an amazing time there because my family and many friends are going to attend this show as well and many of these friends are going to see my live rock performance for the first time ever. Also among the other bands in the line up of the festival are my longtime friends and colleagues. It is a very special opportunity for me to perform close by my new home, so I am very grateful.
Chris: You are on the same Rock The Coast Festival bill with Scorpions and Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. What do you say about your experience of singing with Scorpions vocalist Clause Maine sometime before? And how do you like Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow Rock Memories?
Tarja: To know that Scorpions are playing on the same day than I, is warming my heart. It is going to be again memorable get-together! I loved working with them on „The good die young”-song some years ago. I only have great memories of my collaboration. I am very proud of these guys! And what it comes to Richie B, he is a living legend as well as the guys from Scorpions are. It is absolutely great that he can continue being happy and passionate about the music and still make all the people following him happy as well. Both Scorpions and Rainbow bring me memories from my youth/childhood, so it is pretty relevant that these guys are still around these days. I am honored to be on the same bill.
Chris: Sometimes you invite an opera celebrity to sing together with you live. How do you find a middle ground to combine those two styles within your rock band?
Tarja: I have worked professionally in both rock and classical genres for a quite long period of time already. As a solo artist, I have found a balance between my activities in both camps, so for me, it is absolutely normal to face challenges in my daily life, because of my busy schedules. I need to maintain a good scheduling ability in order to plan my activities for the future, otherwise, things could get out of hands easily. Lyrical singing gives me challenges, makes me speak for perfection and keeps me in good singing condition. Whereas rock music then gives me the freedom to express myself through my own songs. These two live in beautiful harmony in my life. More I train my lyrical voice, better I feel in singing rock as well. So there is no mystery there…
Chris: What songs are you going to present at RTCF 2019? Do we find any new material on your RTCF setlist?
Tarja: My setlist is going to be a killer! You will hear me performing songs from all of my rock albums and a new song from my forthcoming release as well. I am ready to rock you all!
Chris: Thank you so much for finding time to answer these few questions and see you in Spain! Cheers, Tarja!
Tarja: Thank you for having me! See you soon!
http://tarjaturunen.com/home-tarja/
Stay connected with Christopher Willow’s Projects and Interviews:
Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow Live Project 2017 | Facebook
2.6K likes. The last hard rock hero hits the road again!
https://www.facebook.com/BlackmoresRainbow/
Rainbow Live Project (@Rainbow2016EU) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Rainbow Live Project (@Rainbow2016EU): “The Sound of Blackmore’s @Rainbow2016EU …”
https://twitter.com/rainbow2016eu
Tarja Turunen Photo by © Tim Tronckoe 2018
