Léonie Sonning Talent Prize recipient 2026
Tonmeister
Jonas imagines himself as an infant, laid down right in front of a loudspeaker while Coltrane blows through A Love Supreme. That is how he pictures his childhood, for Jonas’ father is a jazz historian, author and long-time music critic, and the family home was always filled with music of every kind – from the fiercest free jazz to Bach and Mozart. That listening left a decisive mark on the ear that is now Jonas’ most important working tool as a tonmeister.
At the age of five, Jonas tried his hand at the clarinet, but it did not last long, and music was put on the shelf. He did not return to it until he was fifteen, this time on the guitar, and things moved quickly from there. During his upper-secondary school years, his interest really took off and brought him to the Swedish stepping-stone school Skurup Folk High School, where for two years he practised intensively among gifted young musicians from across Scandinavia.
But at Skurup something unexpected happened. After a little more than a year, Jonas burned out from practising guitar and instead began spending his time in the school’s studio, recording friends and small ensembles. It was there that he realised that listening to and producing music suited him even better than performing it himself. “As a musician I have always been a listener and have always thought about the bigger picture, so it made perfect sense to work behind the scenes and with the full sound image,” as he explains.
Jonas also discovered that as a musician he moved across genres without ever really belonging to just one. He was not a pure jazz guitarist, nor a rock musician either, but someone deeply invested in context and music as a whole. So it made sense to begin working by listening rather than playing, helping others realise their artistic visions. That paved the way to the tonmeister programme at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.
For Jonas, the work of a tonmeister is a two-sided discipline. There is the technical side – microphones, recording and post-production. And then there is the creative side, where he acts as a musical collaborator and helps musicians realise their vision. Chamber music, and especially the string quartet, occupies a central place in Jonas’ everyday work. The small ensemble opens up an intimacy in the recording process that leaves room for discussions of aesthetics, history and performance practice.
Early on at the conservatoire, chamber music professor Tim Frederiksen paired Jonas with NOVO Quartet to make a recording, and that collaboration has since developed into a close artistic partnership with several releases. Tim Frederiksen has also served as a musical mentor to Jonas, not least when it comes to communication with musicians. “He is one of the reasons I have been able to reach a professional level so quickly,” Jonas says.
Jonas thinks in images when he works: “There is a canvas. The music is a motif, and I use microphones as brushes, while the musicians create the contours and lines that take shape.” That his work as a tonmeister is now being placed on equal footing with performing artists through the Leonie Sonning Talent Prize means a great deal to him. “I see myself as a musician when I work as a tonmeister. So it is a great honour to receive this recognition, which is usually given to musicians.”
