Tarja Turunen's unique fusion of heavy metal and classical music has redefined genre boundaries, making her a trailblazer for women in metal and an enigmatic figure in the music world.
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Cabuli, born 17 August 1977, known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer songwriter. She is a lyric soprano and has a vocal range of three octaves. Turunen studied singing at Sibelius Academy and Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. She is a professional classical lied singer, and the former lead vocalist of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, which she founded with Tuomas Holopainen and Emppu Vuorinen in 1996.
