Interview: Tarja Turunen (ex- NIGHTWISH)

Thank you for joining me, Tarja. It's really a pleasure.

Thank you for having me.

I know you're quite busy, and it's probably been a hell of a day for you. Let me not take too much of your time. Please also excuse me if it's a little bit noisy around me, because I'm at a festival and I'm in the press area.

Oh, where are you?

It's a small local festival in Bulgaria, but yeah, bands will be starting to play any time now. You know, soundchecks...

Oh, nice!

Let's start directly. You already have three announced shows in Bulgaria in the future! You clearly love us, and we surely love you. But now we're discussing your special show in Plovdiv. Your new album is already out, but the upcoming orchestral show in Plovdiv promises to be something quite special and different. What can the audience expect from this concert?

Yes, well, you have this incredible ancient theater that I have been able to visit before, more or less 15 years ago for the first time, and now it's going to be my second time. I can't really wait to get back to that beautiful place. The thing is that I will be accompanied by a string orchestra and pianist, keyboard player Guillermo De Medio. The strings are coming from Bulgaria, local ones, and the program is a mixture of things. It's a very intimate concert and a very emotional concert. I will be performing songs from some of my favorite metal bands, some of my own songs, and then some Nightwish songs. It's a beautiful mixture, and we've been working on these arrangements for a long time.

I've had the pleasure of performing a similar concert — not with the same lineup, but a similar concert — in Georgia and in France during this summertime, and people were really happy. It's not something where you can say, “Oh, I've seen this before.” It is very different, and I'm really glad to come back to Bulgaria because my Bulgarian fans have always been very supportive. So, yeah, I have high hopes for it.

How much work goes into preparing a show like this, especially when you're working with a local orchestra? What are the biggest challenges in bringing everything together?

I love working with the different programs, planning different programs and which songs to include for different shows. Obviously, for this kind of concert, the main thing is my voice. I needed to find songs that would be suitable for me to sing, but also think about the atmosphere and what could lift you up and, you know, give you the goosebumps that you need and I need — and make the difference, not to bore people at a concert. (Laughs)

Not a chance of that!

Yeah, not a chance. And then again, the same thing goes with the arrangements. I have such great people, orchestra arrangers, and also Guillermo, who is coming with me, you know, playing the piano parts and keyboards. He's been doing these arrangements together with me for a long time already, and so I love that. I love this type of work because this is my background in music. You know, I started with classical music, and that's what I really know. And so it's a great change for me, but also these kinds of concerts make me work vocally more because I want to be pitch-perfect in them and give you the best performance ever. I want to be in shape vocally, and that's what I've been doing this summer. Actually, I haven't had any concerts. I decided a long time ago that I wanted to focus on these concerts and really get myself in shape for the ones that are coming.

You've always moved between these two very different worlds — opera and metal. Which one feels closer to you today, and how will those two sides of you come together in the Plovdiv show? Which Tarja will we see more of that night?

You will see a more intimate me in the Plovdiv show. But it's not gonna be an opera diva on a stage. (Laughs) You will see me being very close with the people, my fans, my beautiful public, in a very quiet, beautiful setting. And Plovdiv — you know this — even the theater itself will help us get there. You know, the environment is always very important. When the setting of the venue changes, it changes the performance a bit as well.

The vibe is different.

Yeah, definitely, and that's the beauty of it. You able to adapt into that environment. And that is a really nice thing. I will be performing metal songs, rock songs, my own songs, Nightwish songs. It's going to be me on stage, the “me” that people know already. And I know, you know, Bulgarian fans have been there for me ever since I went... I didn't go with Nightwish to your beautiful country. I went alone. I came alone a long time ago, and I could not believe what I was facing in Sofia on stage. I was crying because I couldn't believe that there were so many thousands of people, and then, you know, they were there for me. Ever since, it's been incredible to come back, and I'm really looking forward to this lovely show. But then it will be hard when we come with Frisson Noir to your country. Then it will be hard. That's big time, big time!

Great. We are all waiting for these three shows. It will be great. You've been a role model for many young women in music. Does that responsibility feel different now that you are also raising a daughter?

Yeah. Well, my daughter is now a teenager, and, you know, we have changes in our lives, and it's constant change, which I actually love because she's adorable. And it's good to see what you have done, what I've done as a mother. You know, if there's one thing I can be proud of, it's about me being a parent, how I've done that job. I've done it well, I think, because I look at my child and she's great. But the thing is that I feel like, more and more with age, people approach me in the industry as well, like girls and women. They approach me more because they've seen me surviving in the industry for a long time, and thankfully I have.

I'm really grateful. It's been more than 30 years. I've been here and doing what I love, and I have gone through trouble and I have gone through everything. But I've always kept my mind about things and my ways about things, and I've always done the things that I care for, you know. And that hasn't always been easy. I've really needed to be tough and say, “Hey, no, no, no. I'm not selling my soul here,” you know. But it's necessary. It's necessary.

I see. Yeah, well said. But after everything you've experienced, do you think that artistic freedom is something you gain with success, or is it something you have to fight for?

I don't think that artistic freedom comes with success. It really comes with the fact that you know yourself. You need to know yourself. What do you want to do in your life? And there it becomes your freedom. Like the last album that I wrote, Frisson Noir. I figured it's been quite a long time since my last album, but I took my time because I felt like, okay, I was too busy with all the touring and all that. But when I sat down to write these songs for the new album, I just felt very free, without knowing where this album would take me and whether it would be successful or not, or anything, you know. But I needed to be very clear within myself and with my feelings and trust my own sense, and that is where the freedom really comes from.

It's like I've been talking about dreams, that I live this dream every day because, you know, if my world was gonna end tomorrow, let it be, because I know that I have lived and loved and loved, and, you know, I've been free. I've been able to be free, and that's okay. People say that if you have a lot of money, you can do whatever you want, or if you have success, you can do whatever you want. But it's not necessarily like that. If you lose yourself and you lose track of where you are going in this life, I think you understand... Yeah, you understand yourself only with age. You know, when you are 20, you don't know shit. You live in the moment and you think that you know everything, but you don't know shit. (Laughs)

That was actually one of my next questions. I grew up with Nightwish's music, both as a fan and later as a journalist, and with the whole Finnish metal scene, from Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica to Children of Bodom. When I was younger, I took a lot of what happened around the band very emotionally, without really thinking about the human cost behind it. Looking back now, I see those years in a very different way. If you could tell the young Tarja everything that was ahead of her — the success, but also the conflicts, sacrifices, separations, and having to start again — would you still say to her, “Go for it. It will be worth it”?

...Yeah. Because... what the heck? You wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be who I am now, talking to you. These things that we are talking about... I wouldn't be having the same life. Yeah, they form your life, and I don't have any regrets. Really, seriously, man, I don't have any regrets because they form you. I've needed to go through that trouble. I've needed to go through that trouble and have those difficult times because they always teach you something about yourself. And it's very difficult. You wouldn't be able to move on, and you wouldn't be able to forgive, and you wouldn't be able to understand why. You need to be able to look at yourself in a mirror and say, “I'm okay with myself.” That's really difficult. Many people don't even dare to do that because the fear is there to stop us from doing that. We are afraid of everything nowadays. People are afraid of making even a little change. They are very afraid, and that's always the thing that stops us.

But is it important to put yourself outside of your comfort zone in order to move forward?

Yeah, exactly. Every change requires a lot of bravery and courage, and it's scary like hell. But you manage that. I always believed that there is always something good coming out of it. And for me, to be honest, I've really found my own voice and, you know, what's there in my heart. It's not bullshit. It's really real. I needed to go through that.

That's what I've always liked about you. You're always true to yourself and really, really kind in that way. Again, thank you very much. We have to end. I took too much time already.

Oh, no problem. You are the last one. Don't worry, you are the last one I'm talking to today, so don't worry. If you have anything you want to ask me...

Just one more question, because I want to end the interview with a really good vibe. To be honest, I was really happy when you visited us with Marko Hietala last April. It was such a great show, and it was great to see you together again. A lot of people started talking all sorts of things, you know! But to me, the most surprising thing was how you said that you both actually got to know each other better when you were away from Nightwish. Obviously, when a band becomes very big, it can stop feeling like a group of friends and become more of a business, where personal relationships get lost along the way. Has that experience taught you how to balance those things differently in your life and career today?

Very much so. You probably know that I have been working with the same guys I started working with. You know, even Alex is still playing guitar with me. He was on the first album. Doug Wimbish plays bass with me. He was on the first album of mine. You know, that was already more than 20 years ago. But I don't have a band with me. I'm on my own with my own decisions, and the guys don't form that part of the business. They don't. They are there for me when we are working with music. They are always there for me, and that part works 100%. But the thing is that I have the risk and I take the responsibility, and they don't have that, and so then there are no conflicts whatsoever. You know, conflicts come within bands because everybody has their opinion, and then, you know, things just break. That's very common in bands. And I've been so lucky to gather really great people around me. That part is as important to me as their talent in music and playing — you know, what kind of persons they are.

They are amazing guys and girls, and so I am enjoying being with everybody on the road. Because it's so hard when you close your own door. You are not there anymore. You leave your comfort zone, kind of, and you become an artist. I become an artist, and then that's on my forehead all the time. I'm no longer the mother and the wife and the housekeeper, call it. So, yeah, I'm an artist, and that's hard enough. It's hard enough.

If I shared my time on the road with assholes, it would be really difficult. It would be really difficult. And so it's very important that you find people who are there for you. When you have a shitty day, you can really cry, no matter who is there next to you, because you know that you can trust the people who are there for you and with you.

Well said. Really well said. Thank you very much for your time. And can I ask you to leave just some final words for the people who are coming to the Plovdiv show? Like a short invitation just to be there. You know everybody will be there for you, but let's make sure.

Yes, I'm so happy to come back to Plovdiv soon, on the 18th of September. I will be there with you beautiful people again, performing a very special event concert that hopefully will blow your mind and heart.

And, yeah, thank you so much for being there for me every day on my journey, and I can't wait to see you again.

Okay, thank you very much, Tarja, for your time. And let's leave it with a promise that we'll have another interview for one of your upcoming shows.

Yes, thank you so much. Have a beautiful day and enjoy the festival. Thank you.

Thank you. See you in Plovdiv. Take care.

***

More about TARJA TURUNEN

Website: https://www.instagram.com/tarjaofficial/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tarjaofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tarjaofficial/

Tickets or the show in Plovdiv - buy here

Author: Nikola Petras
August 2026