Håkon Thelin is a Norwegian double bass player, born in 1976. He studied with professor Knut Guettler at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he holds a master degree with a study on percussion techniques on the double bass in modern music. He works extensively in all Norwegian symphony orchestras as well as European ensembles like Apartment House, musikFabrik and Ensemble Modern. From 2005 he has had regular engagements as principal double bass with the Norwegian Opera Orchestra.


Håkon is a member of the contemporary music ensembles Oslo Sinfonietta and POING (a trio with saxophone, accordion and bass). Being his main group for more than 10 years, POING has taken him on tours throughout the world, with premieres of more than 70 works and collaborations with musicians of nearly all genres.


Being one of the premier double bass interpreters of contemporary music of his generation, his main interest now lies in contemporary music and folk music, and in the sonic exploration of harmonics and multiphonics. He plays regularly recitals with contemporary music and composes extensively for the instrument. The 2004 solo release “a p)reference to other things” presented works by Iannis Xenakis, Bent Sørensen and Jacob Druckman. A new solo recording called “Light” is released in 2011, featuring his own compositions.

From 2007-2010 Håkon was employed as artistic research fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music with the project "A new world of sounds - advancements in contemporary double bass techniques". Here, he specifically worked on the music and techniques of Stefano Scodanibbio, exploring sounds and creating new techniques to be used in his own music. Together with Knut Guettler he has also presented a groundbreaking research on multiphonics on the double bass.

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