Double bassist

Håkon Thelin (b. 1976) is considered one of the world's leading performers of contemporary music, and has researched and invented a number of novel playing techniques on the double bass. He is a member of the ensembles POING, Oslo Sinfonietta and Cikada, and regularly visits Ensemble Modern and Musikfabrik. For many years, he was working with all the major Norwegian symphony orchestras, with longer stays as principal double bass in the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. 

Together with Rolf-Erik Nystrøm on saxophones and Frode Haltli on accordion, Håkon forms POING, an ensemble which, since they started playing together in 1999, have been one of the leading ensembles for contemporary music in Scandinavia. They have played in clubs and concert halls in most European countries, the US as well as in China and Japan, with more than 150 first performances. For their work with contemporary music, POING were in 2009 awarded "Performer of the Year" by the Norwegian Society of Composers. 

Håkon' CD releases includes the 2004 solo release "a p)reference to other things", presenting works by Iannis Xenakis, Bent Sørensen and Jacob Druckman. His second solo recording called "Light" was released in 2011, featuring his own compositions. Light was awarded the Norwegian Grammy "Spellemannsprisen" in 2012 for best contemporary album. In 2015 he released the CD "Folk", with works inspired by folk music. In 2023 he created the label "Peninsula Audio Records" to release his own music which he also records, edits and mix. To date, five albums have been released and are available on Bandcamp. In 2024, he released "Slåtter på kontrabass", a critically acclaimed solo album of Norwegian folk music on double bass.

Håkon has also recorded a duo album with bassist Stefano Scodanibbio and a tribute CD to Scodanibbio together with bass players like Mark Dresser, Sebastian Gramms, Jöelle Leandre and Barre Phillips. Together with the folk singer Unni Løvlid he has released the albums "Lux" and "Hymn".

He regularly commission works and perform solo concerts at Nesodden outside Oslo as part of his concerts series "ABYSS". 

Håkon is an associate professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo where he teaches contemporary music and double bass. 

He is a current receiver of the Norwegian Government Grant for Senior Artists. 

Håkon plays a bass made by Giovanni Battista Ceruti (Cremona, 1800), owned by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB/Dextra Musica, and a bass made by Peter Elias in 1999. His uses custom made bows by Boris Fritsch and Jean Grunberger.

Composer

As a composer, Håkon creates mainly music for the double bass. He has now the largest body of double bass music by any Norwegian composer. In recent years he has also received a number of commissions from ensembles and soloists. Among these are two string quartets, a double bass concerto for Oslo Sinfonietta, new music for Draumkvedet (The Dream Poem), a work for eight double basses for the bassists in the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, a piece for Ensemble Allegria and soloists, and songs and theater music to plays by Tormod Lindgren og Marius Kolbenstvedt. 

His compositional interests center on microtonality, overtones, just intonation, and the exploration of unusual sonic phenomena on the double bass.

From 2011, Håkon is a member of the Norwegian Composers' Association.

His works are published by NB noter.

His music has been played in USA, China, Japan, Germany, Finland, Holland, France, Poland, Switzerland and England, and at the Ultima Festival, Nordic Music Days, Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Bergen International Festival, Borealis Festival, Ilios Festival, Hardanger Music Festival and the Warsaw Autumn.