During a recent interview conducted by Thiago Rahal Mauro for Brazil’s Metal Musikast, Tarja Turunen discussed her collaboration with former NIGHTWISH bandmate Marko Hietala.
They joined forces to perform a rendition of “The Phantom Of The Opera” during a unique open-air concert held in July 2023 at Z7 Summer Nights in Pratteln, Switzerland. Each artist presented separate sets during the event, with their rendition of the iconic theme from Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s musical taking place during Turunen‘s performance.
She said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “I got a call from a promoter to take part in one festival in Switzerland last year in a European summertime in July. And then I got to know, when I had accepted to be the artist of the evening, then I saw that they had also invited Marko and Marko‘s band to perform in the same festival. So I thought, ‘Hmm.’ And I was actually sending a message that I wished to reach Marko, because I didn’t have his contact any longer, to ask him to perform with me ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ in my show. And he responded ‘yes.’ So, after 18 years, we were about to sing the song together. And it was super exciting. It was really beautiful. The people got very emotional about this.
“We had met already before — we had been singing on a few occasions in Finland a few years before — so we kind of cleaned the table on that occasion already,” she explained. “So we were in good terms, so to say, but now singing ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ together after all these years was amazing. So we did it twice, actually — we did it in Switzerland and then in Finland. And now we are going to do it — that and a lot more [laughs] — there in Brazil [during our upcoming joint tour].”
“It’s a new relationship with him, because he’s not the same person anymore than he was in the band,” Tarja continued. “He has changed a lot, and many years have passed by. I’ve changed myself. Life has changed us. So it is a new relationship, let’s say. And it had made me very happy to get to know him better after all these years.”
In November of last year, Tarja confessed to Chaoszine that she felt “nervous” ahead of her performance of “The Phantom Of The Opera” with Marko at Z7 Summer Nights.
“I believe that he was nervous as well to meet up with me, but we were both very excited to go back to the stage and to sing the song,” she said. “We sang ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ in Switzerland for the first time. Then we went over to Finland to perform it again, did a show together there — he with his band and me with my own. Wow. It was pure emotion. I think it was really beautiful, but it made me kind of… I was, like, ‘I’m in peace,’ sort of. The feeling was great. I think it was even more for Marko, because I saw him standing there after my concert, when I finished my set, and he came like almost in tears, saying that this was important. We reconnected, and it’s great. Now I’m really looking forward to have this tour [with Marko] in South America in March [2024], and I’m sure you will see something else happening also. Yeah, you’ll hear.”
Turunen was fired from NIGHTWISH at the end of the band’s 2005 tour. Tuomas Holopainen and the other band members informed Turunen in an open letter that the band did not want to work with her any more, accusing her of diva-like behaviour and greed: “To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with emotions have become much more important.”
The split and, due to the open letter’s allegations, Turunen‘s character became the subject of close media coverage. Turunen responded through an open letter on her website and through some interviews in which she explained her view. She was upset that after nine years of working together, Holopainen announced the separation via an open letter.
In 2019, Turunen addressed speculations on her potential comeback to NIGHTWISH following her reunion with the band’s former bassist/vocalist Hietala in December 2017, clarifying that it was merely a one-time performance at a “Raskasta Joulua” concert in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
“I know a lot of fans would love to see something happen, but it’s a very long distance away,” Tarja told Kerrang! magazine. “Personally, I don’t see anything happening with me and them, to be perfectly honest. Marco came a little later into the band; he wasn’t there since the beginning. He was always a guy I was close to. Me and Tuomas Holopainen, however, haven’t seen each other in a long time… but we have been in touch. It’s not bad. The past is what it is; we can’t change that. We can only change the future.”
