Jónas Sen has an MA degree in Music Performance Studies from the City University in London. He also has an MA degree in Arts Managements from the University of Bifröst. He was additionally educated in Reykjavík and Paris where he studied with the pianist Monique Deschaussées.

At present Jónas works as a composer, pianist, music arranger and music teacher. He was the keyboard player in Björk’s band on her world tours in 2007 and 2008, and a guest performer in several of Björk’s Biophilia shows in 2011 and 2013. Björk and Jónas arranged all the Biophilia songs for keyboard instruments, which were released on the iPad and iPhone versions of Biophilia. They have also made a number of transcriptions and arrangements of Björk’s other songs.

Jónas has composed music for some of Gabríela Friðriksdóttir’s videos. He has also co-created music for dance productions, notably Kris Verdonck’s H, an Incident, which toured around Europe in 2013.

Jónas has created and hosted many TV programs about music in Iceland. These include 12 episodes featuring Icelandic instrumentalists (Tíu fingur), broadcast in 2006 and eight episodes featuring Icelandic singers (Átta raddir), which were broadcast in 2011. His TV program Tónspor featured composers and choreographers and was a joint venture of The Reykjavik Arts Festival and the Icelandic Broadcasting Corporation. Jónas recently created and hosted a TV program about the musical culture of school children in Iceland.

His biography of noted Icelandic pianist and mystic Halldór Haraldsson was published in 2017.

Jónas has set several mystical poems by St. John of the Cross and St. Therese of Lisieux to music. The songs are performed regularly during mass by the Carmelite nuns in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland.

Jónas appeared few years ago at the Winnipeg New Music Festival with Philip Glass and pianists Vicky Chow, Jenny Lin and Madeline Hildebrand, performing Glass’ complete Etudes.

senjonas@gmail.com