Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany10th December 2025
Tarja - “The Spirit of Christmas 2025”
The wait was finally over - Tarja Turunen’s breathtaking Christmas concerts returned once again, continuing a tradition that has accompanied the Advent season for many years. Her Christmas performances have long been a place of calm and reflection, offering a moment of beauty and peace through her enchanting voice and deeply moving interpretations of beloved Christmas music.
This year, Tarja brought her new holiday program, “The Spirit of Christmas”, to life in Markthalle, Hamburg, together with her outstanding ensemble of musicians. As always, her stage presence captivated the audience, creating an atmosphere filled with warmth, emotion, and festive magic.
These Christmas concerts in Germany had, in fact, been close to cancellation due to circumstances beyond Tarja’s control and issues on the promoter’s side. During the Hamburg show, Tarja personally addressed this and shared something very meaningful with the audience: she has been performing Christmas concerts since 2005, and this tradition is deeply important to her. “We all need a sense of magic and Christmas, don’t we?” she asked - a question answered by enthusiastic applause. With this, she made it clear how much effort she had invested in finding alternative venues to ensure that the concerts could still take place as planned.
For me personally, the evening felt like a small tradition of my own. This was not my first Christmas concert by Tarja, and each one feels like a fairy tale. There are simply beautiful people you never grow tired of listening to, watching, and photographing - people who inspire you. Tarja is one of them. The Hamburg concert was more than just a performance. It was a celebration of dedication, resilience, and the true spirit of Christmas - a night to remember long after the season had passed.
Tarja Turunen is one of the most distinctive and influential voices in modern symphonic and classical crossover music. Born in Finland and classically trained as a lyric soprano, her career began in the mid-1990s when she became the original lead vocalist of the symphonic metal band Nightwish. With her powerful operatic voice and unique stage presence, Tarja helped shape an entirely new genre, bringing classical vocal technique into the world of metal and reaching international audiences.
In 2005, Tarja embarked on a successful solo career, allowing her artistic identity to expand far beyond genre boundaries. Her solo debut album, ‘My Winter Storm’ (2007), marked the beginning of a rich and diverse musical journey, followed by acclaimed releases such as ‘What Lies Beneath’, ‘Colours in the Dark’, ‘The Shadow Self’, and ‘In the Raw’. Alongside her rock and symphonic work, Tarja has consistently explored classical music, film scores, and experimental projects, proving her versatility and artistic independence.
Since 2005, Tarja has also cultivated a deeply personal tradition: her Christmas concerts. These performances hold a special place in her career and in the hearts of her audience. With albums such as ‘Henkäys Ikuisuudesta’, ‘From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a Dark Christmas)’, and ‘Dark Christmas’, she reimagines holiday music with elegance, emotion, and a distinctive atmosphere of calm and reflection. For Tarja, Christmas concerts are not merely seasonal events - they are moments of connection, warmth, and shared magic. There are artists you admire, and then there are artists who inspire. Tarja Turunen belongs to the latter - a voice that transcends time, style, and expectation. https://tarjaturunen.com/
Music & Performance
For the first time, I experienced Markthalle in a completely different way - transformed into an intimate, almost chamber-like concert space. Chairs were arranged throughout the venue, the audience seated, attentive, and fully immersed in the music. It turned out that this format not only worked, but worked beautifully. The atmosphere was so close and warm, so quiet and focused, that at times I hesitated to press the shutter of my camera - the acoustics were so clear that even the smallest sound felt amplified. I had felt this kind of delicate tension only a few times before, at concerts by David Garrett and Peter Heppner.
The evening opened gently with the instrumental ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, setting a reflective and calm tone. Traditional carols followed - ‘The First Noel’ and ‘What Child Is This?’ - carried by Tarja’s unmistakable voice, which filled the room with both strength and tenderness. Her own song ‘Together’ felt like a quiet message of unity, while ‘Enkelikello’ and ‘Mielenrauhaa’ added a distinctly Nordic atmosphere - introspective, melancholic, and deeply sincere.
Classics such as ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ were received with visible warmth, while ‘Amazing Grace’ brought a moment of collective stillness, the audience listening in near silence. The first encore began playfully with the instrumental ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, before moving into the solemn beauty of ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ and the dark, dramatic title track ‘Dark Christmas’, a signature piece of Tarja’s holiday repertoire.
With ‘Pie Jesu’ and the two versions of ‘Ave Maria’, the concert reached an almost sacred intensity. These moments felt less like a performance and more like a shared ritual - a quiet space where time seemed to pause. The final encore carried the emotional peak of the evening: ‘Oh Holy Night’, followed by the dreamlike ‘Walking in the Air’, and finally ‘Silent Night’, performed in a language adaptation of ‘Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht’. The hall responded with long, heartfelt applause - not loud at first, but deeply felt.
This is the unique essence of Tarja Turunen’s Christmas concerts: they are not about spectacle, but about closeness, sincerity, and emotion. They invite the audience to listen - truly listen - and to reconnect with something gentle and meaningful. The evening ended like a spell slowly fading, leaving behind warmth, gratitude, and quiet joy. It was a magical night - one that renewed faith in fairy tales, in music, and in the hope that 2026 will bring light, beauty, and something good for us all.
Setlist
01. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Hugh Martin cover) (Instrumental)
02. The First Noel (traditional cover)
03. What Child Is This? (William Chatterton Dix cover)
04. Together
05. Enkelikello (Raskasta Joulua cover)
06. Mielenrauhaa
07. White Christmas (Irving Berlin cover)
08. Angels We Have Heard on High (traditional cover)
09. Amazing Grace (John Newton cover)
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10. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Gene Autry cover) (Instrumental)
11. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (traditional cover)
12. Dark Christmas
13. Pie Jesu (Andrew Lloyd Webber cover)
14. Ave Maria (Giulio Caccini cover)
15. Ave Maria
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16. Oh Holy Night (traditional cover)
17. Walking in the Air (Howard Blake cover)
18. Silent Night (John Freeman Young cover) (Language Adaptation of ‘Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht’)
