Mike Monford

Former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen and acclaimed drummer Mike Terrana (TARJA, AXEL RUDI PELL, RAGE, YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN, MASTERPLAN) will release the classic-rock crossover live project "Beauty & The Beat" on May 30 via earMUSIC. The effort includes interpretations of classic music pieces ranging from Bach to Mozart to Rossini as well as rock classics from QUEEN, LED ZEPPELIN and Turunen. The music of "Beauty & The Beat" ranges from immortal classic pieces by Bach, Strauss and Mozart to Rossini, but doesn’t neglect pure rock music like songs from LED ZEPPELIN, QUEEN as well as Tarja's own pieces. All combined with orchestra and choir with more than 100 musicians on stage, an enormous sound, energetic drums and Tarja's angelic voice Tarja and Mike complement each other musically. Whereas Mike bangs his drums with rock attitude, Tarja shines with her crystal clear voice and incredible stage presence; all lulled with the warm, full sound of an orchestra.

After suffering a debilitating shoulder injury from years of touring and endless recording sessions, cellist Ofra Harnoy underwent reconstructive surgery in 2015. A successful physical therapy allowed her to return to the stage in 2018 and, earlier this year, to start recording her much anticipated comeback album, Back to Bach. It is an album of profound musicality and passion which features Baroque favourites, such as Bach’s Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 andBist du bei mir, as well as some lesser known gems from composers such as Allegri and Corelli.

Mike Gibbins' first solo album, one and a half years in the making, was recorded at Exile Studio in Oveido, Florida on a digital 8-track recorder which Mike loaned from August Fritsch. Mike wrote, produced, recorded and engineered the album himself. Mike sings, plays drums & percussion, and plays all the keyboard parts. He is helped out on bass, guitars and backing vocals by Rick Warsing, who Mike discovered playing in a country band. Mike was impressed by his guitar playing and asked him if he was interested in listening to some demos he had recorded, intended for other artists to cover.

Over 5 hours of great performances including the entire Testimony and One albums plus special encores of the Spock's Beard classic, "The Light" featuring Alan Morse, and the Transatlantic epic "Stranger In Your Soul." Also included is a behind-the-scenes documentary with footage of Neal's exclusive acoustic concert, rehearsal footage, "Name That Prog Tune" game with Mike and more!…

Long-time collaborators Mike Portnoy and Randy George as well as Neal Morse Band anchors, Bill Hubauer and Eric Gillette, join Neal as this group of master musicians perform Neal's world renowned classic albums "Testimony" and "One" filmed LIVE in Nashville!

Mike Oldfield's 1973 classic Tubular Bells set a new precedent for soundtrack music, and walked so many different stylistic lines that it appealed to an enormous cross section of the record-buying public. If the original album flirted with prog rock, new age, neo-classical, and what would become ambient music, it only makes sense that 40 years later Tubular Bells and other early Oldfield material (including "Ommadawn") could be re-imagined as beat-driven electronica with Tubular Beats…