Nightwish teacher expects another female singer after Floor Jansen

Nightwish is likely to continue with a new female singer after Floor Jansen leaves, music teacher Plamen Dimov told Yle. He believes composer Tuomas Holopainen can make the next vocalist a star.

The band and Jansen announced that their collaboration would end, a decision that shook the group’s fans around the world. But Dimov, who taught Nightwish’s founding members in the 1990s, said in the Finnish town of Kitee that he was not worried. “The story continues,” he said.

Dimov taught Holopainen, Emppu Vuorinen, Sami Vänskä, Jukka Nevalainen and Tarja Turunen. He also played violin on the band’s second album, Oceanborn, and has followed its career from the beginning.

He said the band should not be judged by its changes of vocalist. Turunen, Anette Olzon and Jansen are all unique singers, he said, and Nightwish is a phenomenon that reaches millions regardless of who sings.

Dimov expects Holopainen, Nightwish’s principal composer, arranger and lyricist, to help the next singer become a star, as he believes he did with previous vocalists. Olzon faced criticism over her singing, but the album Dark Passion Play sold triple platinum in Finland in about four months, Dimov said.

Jansen replaced Olzon in 2012 and is one of Dimov’s favourite singers. He believes the next vocalist will bring something new. He is also certain the singer will be a woman, though he does not expect her to come from Kitee. “Nightwish is not going back to the past, but looking to the future,” he said.

Dimov disagrees with Holopainen’s suggestion that the band could continue without him. Holopainen is Nightwish’s “mastermind”, he said, and it would be difficult for the group to continue on the same path without him.

Nightwish fans from around the world have gathered in Kitee for more than ten summers to make music together and meet one another. Dimov, who has a wife and three children, describes the band as part of his family. “This phenomenon is our fourth child,” he said. “I believe the story continues, and we will all get wonderful music again.”