Composer/improviser, researcher and musicologist. Inventor of electronic musical instruments.
He studied Physics and Mathematics at Instituto Superior Técnico (Technical University of Lisbon), from 1999 to 2003. In 2008 he completed a B.A. in Sonology at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (Netherlands), under the supervision of composers Konrad Boehmer and Clarence Barlow. In 2015, he completed a PhD in Science and Technology of Arts, majoring in Computer Music at the Portuguese Catholic University, with the thesis "Aesthetics of Music Informatics: Unrealized Musical Energy". (Latin honor: Magna cum Laude)
Jonas Runa often collaborates with the international artist Joana Vasconcelos, participating in the 55th Venice Biennale (2013) where he performed two concerts ("Solo with Robot Orchestra" and "Jonas Runa Cosmic Ensemble") and a conference ("From Luigi Nono to the XXIst century: an infinity of possibilities ") aboard the ship “Trafaria Praia” - Pavilion of Portugal. In 2014, the collaboration involved the composition of an electroacoustic symphony for 168 phones integrated in the work "Call Center" by Joana Vasconcelos.
In 2015, he participated in the 56th Venice Biennale with the electronic performance "Sinchronicity", presented in the context of the work "Giardino dell'Eden" (Garden of Eden), by Joana Vasconcelos.
He created with Jorge Lima Barreto the duo "Zul Zelub" in 2007, an experimentalist conceptual proposal for piano and electronic art music. "Zul Zelub" edited the CD "Ultimaton" and held concerts at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (Netherlands), Casa da Música (Oporto, Portugal) and Culturgest (Lisbon, Portugal), among many others. This duo collaborated with major artists in the field of "free improvisation", such as Eddie Prevost or Jac Berrocal. The concerts always included components of multimedia, video-art or performance.
He composed music for contemporary dance, collaborating with choreographer Clara Andermatt in the works "Dez Mil Seres" (2012), "Fica no Singelo" (2013), "Dance Ballerina Dance" (2013) – with the Nation Ballet Company of Portugal - and "Novo Velho Circo" (2015). He was the musician and programmer of Personare, a telematics dance performance (involving live-streaming), presented simultaneously in three countries: Portugal, Brazil and Chile.
He has worked with astrophysicists by making concerts accompanying the observation of stars with telescopes in Dark Sky Alqueva, the first starlight tourism destination in the world recognized by UNESCO for its low luminosity levels. For these concerts, Jonas Runa developed the concept of Intuitive Cosmic Music. At the event, he has also lectured on music and the cosmos.
He realized several concerts with the Siberian musician, philosopher and shaman Spiridon Shishigin, the world’s leading khomus player (duo "Khomus / Kyma"), being named in 2011 the Portuguese representative of the Siberian khomus music and IJHS (International Jew's Harp Society).
He is the author of 10 scientific papers, and has presented 12 conferences in Portugal and abroad, including the Venice Biennale. He composed music for the video installation "1989", which won the first prize of the Sonae Media Art 2015, among other prizes.
Jonas Runa was nominated in 2015 as one of the 25 most innovative people in Portugal, a prize attributed by AUDI and the television network SIC Notícias.