A Finnish Festival in the heart of Transylvania! This is the ARTMANIA Festival that will line up several of the best musical acts from Finland. The ARTMANIA Festival is organised under the aegis of the Embassy of Finland in Romania, in co-operation with several Finnish cultural organisations and the City Hall of Sibiu.
In addition to live performances, Artmania Festival will feature other interesting events such as visual art exhibitions, film screenings, classic music performances, lectures and workshops.
Two of the most representative personalities of the Finnish art milieu, Jan Kaila and Elina Brotherus, will display their worldwide acclaimed works in Sibiu during the three-day festival. Classic music concerts, piano competitions and recitals will be performed by young artists at the Thalia Hall, an exquisite site built on the ancient walls surrounding the medieval city. Last December, Tarja Turunen, the ex-NIGHTWISH singer, performed a sold-out Christmas concert there.

After spreading a gentle breeze of melancholy over the world with their Love Metal sound that brought them the status of super-star icons, H.I.M will shed the “Dark Light” over Sibiu, the medieval city located in the very heart of Transylvania, a place full of history and legends.
H.I.M, one of the most successful Finnish bands to the date and Finland’s best music export ever, will perform in the Big Square of Sibiu, on Saturday, July 15 at the first edition of the ARTMANIA Festival.
Here the Finnish quintet intends to shoot new video materials, including a DVD with live footage from the concert but also from the town and its surroundings, a charming location where history and traditions blend with immemorial gothic legends.
H.I.M, performing for the first time ever in Romania at ARTMANIA Festival, chose to include Sibiu in the Dark Light world promoting tour, attracted by the town’s exquisite beauty, located at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, a place that cannot but match the elegant image of the band.
Since the release of the new album, last September at Sire Records/Warner Music, the Finnish lovemetallers had a great success conquering new territories, and considerably increasing the ranks of devoted fans from the Europe’s North to the Antipodes.
So far, H.I.M has performed some 60 concerts in Europe, North America and Japan and in the upcoming weeks will tour Australia, U.K, U.S and Canada to come back in Europe to perform to a few selected summer festivals.

Label: Sire Records/Warner Bros, http://www.warnerbrosrecords.com

 

The ARTMANIA Festival line-up includes one of the most leading bands of the European metal scene: AMORPHIS.
After three years of absence from the spotlight, AMORPHIS makes today a truly strong comeback with “Eclipse”, the band’s seven full length album, released in February 2006 and already considered by the music critics as one of the best albums of the genre in 2006.
“Eclipse” went straight to the first spot on the Finnish Album Charts in February. Released on Nuclear Blast in Europe and the United States, it was also the choice of German Metal Hammer magazine as the album of the month.
The new album introduces the new vocalist Tomi Joutsen who replaces the former singer Pasi Koskinen. Amorphis lined up  already a list of festivals where it will lay this summer, which includes Myötätuulirock -Vantaa Nummirock – Nummijärvi, Tuska Festival – Helsinki, With Full Force - Löbnitz (Germany), Ruisrock – Turku, Gates Of Metal - Hultsfred (Sweeden), Brutal Assault Festival - Prague (Czech Republic), Burgrock - Altena (Germany), Hunterfest - Szczytno (Poland).
 
Two other Finnish bands will perform at ARTMANIA Festival 2006, dedicated this year to the Country of The Thousand Lakes:

SILENTIVM – founded from the demise of the death/gothic band Funeral, fronted by the enchanting Riina Rinkinen, has released four albums since 1999, and their new output, “Seducia”, is exactly that – seducing and soothing music full of emotions, and always with a edge to it. Along with the release Silentivm got high hopes. New material and the line-up fits together perfectly and the next chapter in the Silentian history is about to be written as they plan to hit the road this spring. With the help and devotion of Dynamic Arts Records, things inside the Silentivm are better than ever. The best selling album and most applauded by the fans and critics is “Sufferion” launched in 2003 at Spikefarm.

CARMEN GRAY – one of the most promising new comers on the Finnish music scene will make its first international performance in Sibiu.So far the band has only released a promotional single, “Lost In My Mind Again” which has been a huge hit all over the Finnish radio stations. The band already secured a deal with Sony BMG in Finland in 2005. Carmen Gray reminds its audience of the 90’s rock attitude with catchy melodies and intensive stage performing. Earlier this month, Carmen Gray was the support act of The Darkness, when they visited Finland. Carmen Gray’s first album is produced by T.T. Oksala and it will be released in September 2006.