"I'm too restless to settle down"

Finally she has the courage to say it out loud: the leap to solo artist succeeded and payed off. There's more room in Tarja Turunen's speech for family, home, inactivity and her real passion she gets into with her husband in Egypt in the summer.

About free time

Right now I feel happy and rested. Me and Marcelo spent last night with friends at home in Kuusankoski and watched the movie about the assassination of Jesse James. Though I must have dozed off like I do during dull movies.
We came to Kuusankoski straight from the European tour which ended at Tavastia in the beginning of June. It's hard to believe we've done sixteen conserts. I've been in good strength the whole start of the year, I haven't even had a flu. I think it's because for the first time in my life I've found a balance between work and free time. Though tours are tough because of the travelling, we've learned to also arrange rests for us. I might drop by the cinema or amusement park with Marcelo between conserts.
The last few days we've consentrared on yard work. We sold our old row house appertment and in the spring moved to a new home which has a big garden. Eventhough Marcelo is used to the beat of the big city of Buenos Aires he too has begun to long for peace and nature around him. In Kuusankoski the soul rests.
I'll never forget when Marcelo's parents visited Finland for the first time. My mother-in-law crid pretty much the whole drive from Helsinki to Kuusankoski. She was so impressed by the beauty of the forests and lakes. My dad has also visited Argentina but the communication is of course a little difficult since he doesn't speak Spanish and Marcelo's parents don't speak English.

About relationship

I know the challenges of the language barrier since I suffered from them too in the early stage of our relationship with Marcelo. After I had learned Spanish a whole new world opened for me in Argentina. I started to understand that culture and those people on a much deeper level. Argentineans are much more straightforward by character but the same tendency for melancholy combines us.
I feel limitlessly free in Argentina. I can walk there in my favourite outfit, a sweatsuit trousers, without make-up and no one pays any attention to me. We often stay at least three weeks in our home in Buenos Aires since the flights there are so long.
Though you'd think otherwise I'm the one with the temperament in our family. Marcelo has an amazing ability to stay calm in tight situations and to make me relaxed too. He has taught this sulky Finn to talk about things when there's something on your mind. Flexing from both sides is essential since even more compromises have to be made in a cross-cultural relationship than in a normal one.
I met Marcelo eight years ago through work when he took care of Nightwish's South-American tour's practical matters. Our chemistry worked straight away and still does eventhough it's incomprehensible to many how a relationship can survive working with your own partner. It works for us however: Marcelo enjoys his work and I can't imagine touring the world without my husband.
At work we are both perfectionists. Neither of us can go over where the fence is the lowest but we polish the fine details till we are bored with them. I've learned through experience that I can't deal with uncertainty that preparing poorly brings along. I don't want to take any risks with my voice: it's my most important tool I carry with me always.

About childhood

I never had a sister to fight with. I spend my childhood in Kitee with a little brother five years younger than me and a big brother eight years older than me. I was the only girl in our elementary school class which is why I spent all my free time with boys. Now when thinking about my male-dominated working environment that might have been a good thing: at an early age I found true friends from boys without there being any romance between us.
I still wasn't a tomboy. I liked beautiful clothes and dressing up but it might have been a little easier for me to jump into things than other girls my age. I did dream of my own motorcycle but I never got it.
Music came to the picture already at the age of three when I performed for the first time. I was so short that my mum had to lift me on a table so the audience could see at least something. At home I often got my performance outfits the from linen or curtain closet and put on puppet shows from behind the television. I wanted to start playing the piano when I was six.
Music quickly took my heart and all of my time. Studying history or theatre might have intrested me but I knew soon what I wanted to do when I grew up. I moved to Savonlinna at the age of 15 when I was accepted to an art high school. At that point I even had a short hippie stage that included dying my hair black.
I don't remember if I ever had a bad stage of adolescence. I might have rebelled quietly to myself but I saved my parents from major protests. Surely I always had some restlessness inside me. I still notice that if things are too plane I'll create some action myself.

About passions

Moving to a solo career was a huge step for me, a challenge, the success of which I was nervous beforehand. It brought along the freedom to do things my way but also a lot of responsibility and additional work.
It's totally different to be one of the members of a well-known band than to start with your own name from a totally clean table. Luckily I got a professional team behind me and a band that I get along with better than well. Of course planning tours takes some organizing since some of the band members play in even five different assemblies. We often meet in Germany where we have a mutual training place. We've already started to work on the next album. I'd want it to have a bit more contrast, of a rockier kick-ass feeling. Of course I still like beautiful ballads and classical music and I know combining all of them is the most challenging part.
I'm proud that I have the courage to finally do my own songs. Until now I've been sp ashamed of them that I've barely managed to play them to my friends.
After a few weeks we'll travel to a composing camp in Antigua. We went with Marcelo on a holiday on the island at the beginning of the year and fell in love with the place so that we decided to bring the whole working crew there.
After that the two of us will go to Egypt for a week to enjoy our dearest hobby, scuba diving. We passed a diving course in Thailand a few years ago and were instantly excited about the underwater adventure.

Contrast - I'm pedant at work but on my free time I like to go with the feeling. Me and Marcelo regularly get crazy whims that we have to carry out.
Challenge - My dream is to compose film music. Now it looks like it might be possible, Tarja hints, but doesn't reveal the projects exact content.
(And an info box about Tarja without any new information besides:)
On the record player now: Linkin Park, Craig Armstrong, Renèe Fleming, Peter Gabriel and Megadeth