Press Statements about Members
from The Official Website and Members' Facebook profiles
30th April 2008. - Lisa no longer the singer of Xandria (Band)
Lisa Middelhauve is no longer the front woman of Xandria. For personal reasons she has decided to leave the band after almost eight years of successful collaboration. Lisa has not felt comfortable with her role as front woman of Xandria for some time and wants to clear the way for the band to find a singer who can fully support Xandria. A step that everyone regrets but respects to the highest degree. We would like to thank Lisa for the good, successful and above all unforgettable time with her and wish her all the best for the future. All the best - your contribution to Xandria and everything you have done for the band will never be forgotten!
Xandria's musical journey will of course continue and there is a lot to look forward to in the future - we still have a lot planned!
We are now looking for a new front woman and will let you hear from us with new songs and live dates. We will announce information about applications in the next few days.
8th February 2009. - The new singer (Band)
We have all been waiting for this moment for a long time, and without keeping you in suspense any longer, we will simply introduce her to you:
The new Xandria singer is called Kerstin Bischof, and here you can find more information about her:
There will be more soon!
Band photo by Daniela Vorndran
18th February 2010. - Singer (Band)
We have good news and bad news for you.
First the bad news: Kerstin Bischof will unfortunately not be able to be the permanent new singer of Xandria. For personal and professional reasons, she wants to focus more on her non-musical career in the future and therefore no longer has enough time to fully support Xandria. We wish her all the best for the future!
We are now looking for a new singer, details on how to apply in the next few days.
We know you're waiting for a new album, and we're sorry you'll have to wait even longer for the new songs we were planning to go into the studio with.
The good news is that we will still play the upcoming shows, because our former singer Lisa Middelhauve has agreed to step in for these dates. She will not be returning to the band on a permanent basis, so this will be an unexpected last chance for many fans to see her on stage with Xandria one more time!
20th December 2010. - The new singer (Band)
Today we present the new Xandria singer to you!
Her name is Manuela Kraller, and here you can get to know her:
5th February 2013. - The new bass player! (Band)
The name of the new Xandria bass player is Steven Wussow, and he will debut on stage with us in April and May when we are going to play Russia, Belarus, Argentina and Brazil! He is known for his work with bands like Domain, Shylock and Illectronic Rock, and we are thrilled to have found THE candidate we had been chasing for over the past months!
Statement from Steven: “On stage I feel at home and it’s the streets where my heart is. Having passed a few lights and crossroads in my search, I am happy to finally have found my partners in crime I was looking for!” We are excited to start our upcoming live and recording endevours with Steven – because this year Xandria will also hit the studio again for the next album! Yes, as we said, this year will be a hell of a ride!
25th October 2013. - Announcement (Band)
Hello everyone!
Probably to a big surprise for everyone in here, we are announcing Dianne van Giersbergen to be our new lead singer! Dianne, 28 years old and from the Netherlands, might be known to many from her Dutch band Ex Libris.
At the same time, Dianne’s arrival means the departure of Manuela Kraller, who regrettably decided to continue a different musical path. Certainly, that was a big shock to all of us hearing Manu say she wanted to try other things. With major regrets we had to let her go. Not an easy task to deal with, whilst the goal was untouchable: To continue the musical journey we had taken with “Neverworld’s End”. But: We are very happy to have found THE new voice and face in Xandria who will continue this fantastic ride, our last album “Neverworld’s End” had taken us to. And we are yet to sail way, way further with Dianne now!
Manuela thanks all fans and us in a personal statement:
“After three years with the boys in Xandria, I decided to follow a different path and go my own musical way. ” Manuela leaves with regret but also full of gratitude, thanking XANDRIA and fans for the time together and being grateful for the “wonderful moments in mutual tours and shows”. She is “wishing Dianne and band all the very best for the future!”.
Last weekend’s shows in Leipzig, Germany and in Pratteln (Switzerland) at the “Masters of Symphonic Metal” Festival have been the last concerts for Manuela performing together with XANDRIA. We will certainly miss Manuela! We are also thankful for the magical time we shared and wish her all the best for the future!
BUT: The show must go on and it will for sure! We promise, what began with “Neverworld’s End” was just a start and is yet to be taken to a higher level! Dianne will debut on stage with Xandria during our Spain tour in November.
We hope you all will be with us! The Dream is still alive!
13th September 2017. - I’M LEAVING XANDRIA. (Dianne)
The moment I promised you and me that would never come is here: I am leaving Xandria. And the reason is simple: staying in the band would cause further damage to the health problems the band has caused me.
For nearly 2 years now I’ve been trying to put band and management issues on the table, with the sole reason to keep this band healthy, together and ready for the future. Today I am sad to say that my attempts failed and have been ignored, that my cries for help have been met with financial threats and emotional extortion and that my persistence to keep on going, ignoring all the warning signs, has left me with uncontrollable stress symptoms (confirmed by doctors). I am a fighter, but I’ve come to see that this is one I cannot win. I don’t want to leave, I love the music that I got to write for you - which is 100% me - but I can’t live, can’t perform, can simply not exist in an environment that harms me. This environment does not care for me nor for the fans (even proposed me to playback in order to do more shows in a row) and somehow miraculously never generated any financial outcome and therefore no stability for any of its band members.
Yesterday evening the last hope I had of ever reconciling with the boys was shattered when they made a statement announcing that ‘I’ could not perform with the band anymore, forgetting to mention that I am in this unhealthy position because of Xandria & management. Not surprisingly they also already have a replacement for me and kicked me out of every Xandria social media page. With that they’ve send me one last clear message: they are not interested in fixing the situation nor are they willing to support me if that means (partly) stepping away from the business perspective (quote: ‘we are not friends’) which leads me to conclude what I know now: it is time for me to close this chapter and wish them the best of luck in continuing the band I loved so much.
Now, I don’t know where we will meet again, but I didn’t follow my passion, study all those hours and travel all those roads to simply give up. I’m sad to close this chapter, but I’m sure there will be another one to write. In the meantime I will be focussing on what does make me happy and I will be posting my daily business and updates on my Precious Metal Jewelry and Ex Libris stuff as usual. I very much hope to see you online so we can stay in touch and who knows, maybe one day in an audience again.
Thank you all for understanding, for your love and support!
I am forever grateful ♡
Dianne
17th September 2017. - Dianne leaves the band (Band)
Dear all,
We are very sad about the situation that we and you, the people following Xandria, have to face now. After we already had to cancel many concerts since July due to Dianne not being able to perform we had now been informed by her that she is leaving the band with immediate effect. This happened after we published news that the upcoming concerts will be played with a temporary replacement singer. It was clear to everyone, including Dianne, that it was supposed to be a temporary solution only. We had to learn about her departure in a way that has been surprising us very much and with a statement in which we do not recognize ourselves in.
We have been very downhearted about not being able to play these concerts, and probably would not have been able to play for an undetermined time also in the future. For that reason, we wanted to play at least the concerts in November and December with a temporary replacement singer that can celebrate the music we love so much together with you and us, instead of cancelling any more concerts. We always have been doing our best to be there for you fans, so we tried the same in this difficult situation. Just as we always tried to find a good way to care for all members of the band to live the passion that is music, which can sometimes be difficult for everyone. Unfortunately, it seems that Dianne´s needs and goals were drifting apart from the band´s ones.
However, we are proudly looking back at what we achieved together and we are thanking Dianne for the great times we shared and everything she did for the band. We wish her all the best for what she is heading for on her future way.
We will live the passion we have for our music together with you all on our concerts in November, December & beyond!With a heavy heart, but at the same time looking forward to the future and to see you out there sharing our music with you,
Philip, Marco, Steven & Gerit