Håkan Björkman, Principal Trombone (Associate)

Håkan Björkman started playing with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in 1998 as principal trombone.

Besides his involvement in the COE, Håkan has been principal trombonist of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and held the same position in the Stockholm Symphonic Wind Band (1993-1996) and in the Royal Swedish Opera (1996-2010).

Håkan was born in 1969. He studied with John Petersen in Stockholm 1983-1989 (principal trombonist of The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic) Håkan then entered Stockholm’s Royal Academy of Music where he was taught by professor Sven-Erik Eriksson. He graduated with a Medalist Solo Diploma and, through scholarships, studied in the USA with Joe Alessi, Per Brevig and Mark Lawrence.

As a soloist, Håkan has performed in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, UK, USA, Spain, Portugal, France, Austria, Holland, Germany, Belgium and Colombia together with orchestras including the Royal Swedish Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Sinfonietta, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Tromsø Chamber Orchestra and Stockholm Symphonic Wind Orchestra, Bogota Philharmonic and more.

Over the years, Håkan has won numerous international competitions and regularly takes part in Festivals, performing solo recitals or in chamber music ensembles. He was invited to perform with the World Trombone Quartet in New York on the ITF 2016.

Håkan currently teaches at MDU Music Academy in Västerås and is assistant professor at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

Håkan has released two solo albums, “Mandrake in the corner” (2008) and “Selections” (2014).

The Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström commissioned a trombone concerto to Håkan. It was premiered in 2022 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding. Future composers who are planning to write solo concertos to Håkan Björkman are HK Gruber, Jesper Nordin and Geoffrey Gordon.

Håkan is a Yamaha performing artist and has together with them developed his own trombone model and mouthpiece.