TARJA TURUNEN 'Getting Orchestra Arrangements Ready' For New Solo Album

Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen is currently collaborating with James "Jim" Dooley and Slamm Andrews at Remote Control Productions in Santa Monica, California on "getting the orchestra arrangements ready" for her new solo album, "What Lies Beneath". She writes on her blog, "We are starting to discuss the mixing process with Slamm. He is going to be the one to mix all the orchestral tracks [while] other mixing engineers will mix the rock/heavy tracks."

She adds, "I have realized during this last month that some of the songs that I thought were not the strongest ones during the writing process turned out to be really good songs now when everything has been recorded. I will definitely have some trouble in choosing the ones that are going to end in the actual album. I guess it's a nice problem, though."

Turunen previously stated about "What Lies Beneath", "The process for my second album started back in June 2008. Among the first songs that my friends and I composed at that time, a character called Naiad was born. The fantasy story of Naiad gave me the idea for the album title and for the whole album concept: 'What Lies Beneath'.

"It has been wonderful to be able to brainstorm again and decide the direction the album is going to take. I hope that you will be surprised again by my work; because that's the way I like it."

Turunen will perform a special "Classic and Divine" opera rock show with a symphonic orchestra and choir on June 12, 2010 at the Miskolc International Opera Festival at at the Miskolc Ice Hall in Miskolc, Hungary. Tarja's two-hour set will include a selection of the best-loved songs from her "My Winter Storm" solo album, classical gems, unpredictable rock covers, tracks from her career with NIGHTWISH, and songs from her upcoming album, "What Lies Beneath". She will be accompanied by her own band, a symphonic orchestra and a choir.

Turunen recently recorded three songs for a Finnish Christmas album, produced by Olli Ahvenlahti. According to Turunen, this was "a charity project for missionary workers in Finland."

Tarja's last album, "My Winter Storm", was re-released in January 2009. This double CD "extended special edition" was packed with 32 tracks, including the CD "My Winter Storm" with the addition of the song "The Seer" in its original version. The bonus disc presented several new tracks, remixes and live recordings. Among them, the new song "Enough" and "The Seer", this time featuring a duet with German rock star Doro Pesch.