Tuomas Holopainen (born December 25, 1976, in Kitee, Finland) is the keyboardist and main songwriter in the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has also played in the bands Nattvindens Gråt and Darkwoods My Betrothed. His current side project is gothic-doom metal band For My Pain.... He currently plays in the band of Timo Rautiainen.
He started to study in a musical college majoring in clarinet and minoring in piano. He played in several bands, including recording keyboards for three albums with the black metal band Darkwoods My Betrothed, before coming up with the idea of a band of his own, where he would write all the music. That was the birth of Nightwish in July of 1996, around a camp fire. He then asked Emppu Vuorinen and Tarja Turunen to join what then was but an acoustic project. After hearing Tarja's strong lyrical voice, Tuomas decided to turn Nightwish into a metal act.
Nightwish's first release, Angels Fall First, came in 1997, but it was in 1998, after the release of Oceanborn, that Holopainen's compositional skills reached full acclaim worldwide. Another four releases followed; Wishmaster (2000), Over the Hills and Far Away (EP) (2001), Century Child (2002) and Once (2004). In the last two, Holopainen took Nightwish to a whole new level by collaborating with symphonic orchestras from Finland and the United Kingdom.
The next Nightwish release is set for August 2007 with a lead-in single slated for May 2007, though without the vocals of Tarja, who was asked to leave the band in October 2005. No new singer has been announced so far, in spite of what some magazines have published.
Holopainen is said to be a fan of Disney animation, and enjoys visiting Disney parks in Florida. The album Wishmaster contains many Disney references.
Nightwish:
official Nightwish website:
www.nightwish.com
