Background
Toppinen grew up in Vantaa"s Hakunila and has three sisters and one brother, all of whom took instrument lessons while growing up.
cellist composer drummer musician
Toppinen grew up in Vantaa"s Hakunila and has three sisters and one brother, all of whom took instrument lessons while growing up.
He attended the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he met future Apocalyptica band members Paavo Lötjönen, Antero Manninen, and Max Lilja.
In 1993 he formed the quartet Apocalyptica. He started playing cello when he was nine. After graduating, he played for several orchestras, including Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Avanti! chamber orchestra.
When attending Sibelius Academy, Eicca could not get an apartment or student support money because he lived too close to Helsinki, where the Academy resides.
In 1993, when Toppinen was still studying in Sibelius Academy, the young Vivo Christian Orchestra played three songs from the Metallica album, Ride The Lightning. According to Toppinen, he did not have notes for any other albums.
Two years later, Apocalyptica performed at Teatro Heavy Metal Club in Helsinki, on the same night with His Infernal Majesty, later to be known as HIM. Toppinen married Kirsi Ylijoki, a Finnish actress, in 1997. They live in an expansive rural area in Sipoo, Finland.
They have 2 children: Eelis, born in 1998, and Ilmari, born in 2002.
After first writing songs for Apocalyptica, Toppinen also became involved in various other projects, such as the theatrical performance of Paper Rain and the Finnish Film Milja. In 2007, Toppinen composed the soundtrack for the Finnish movie Musta Jää (Black Ice). He also wrote the movie"s main theme song, sung by Hanna Pakarinen.
Unfortunately, this caused him to miss Apocalyptica"s sold-out show in Strasbourg, France.
The first time he had ever missed a performance by his band in 14 years. Toppinen was responsible for writing the score for the classical-metal crossover project Wagner Reloaded-Live in Leipzig which was recorded live in Leipzig Arena in July 2013 and released as an Apocalyptica album in November 2013.
Toppinen has also composed an opera commissioned by the Finnish National Opera, with his Apocalyptica bandmate Perttu Kivilaakso. Their opera titled "Indigo", which "tells a sci-fi influenced story of an omnipotent multinational company and the search for happiness", premiered on 22 January 2016.
Yo-Yo Ma
Tom Waits
Mstislav Rostropovich
James Hetfield
Cello
Lupot (1787) Postiglione (1857)
Bow
Guillaume A. Vigneron
Strings
Thomastik-Infeld Spirocore.
He"s also a founding member of the Sibelius Academy"s Cellosextet.