Jonas Lundblad

Jag är forskare i musikvetenskap. och samtidigt konstnärligt aktiv främst som organist. Min forskning rör i huvudsak musikestetik och musikhistoria, med öppningar även mot musikalisk interpretation. Vid Åbo Akademi är jag docent i historisk musikestetik.

Vid Uppsala universitet har jag för närvarande viss handledning i musikvetenskap och arbetar med slutfasen av ett större projekt kring den svenska kyrkomusikens historia, där jag skriver en monografi om utvecklingen sedan 1800-talets början.

Jonas Lundblad pursues a dual career in scholarship and musical performance. He first studied church music and organ interpretation in Malmö, Lübeck and Piteå, gaining a Master of Fine Arts in Church Music (2005), Master of Music in Organ Performance (2006) and Master of Fine Arts in Music (“Concert Organist Diploma”, 2009).

While a student in the concert organist class of the renowned Messiaen interpreter Hans-Ola Ericsson, Jonas learned and performed the complete organ works of the composer. Since then, the music and intellectual landscape of Messiaen have remained one of his central areas. This repertoire was first performed at cathedrals throughout Sweden during the years 2008-2011. A second series of concerts in Stockholm was performed in 2015, as part of a three-year artistic project funded by the Swedish Research Council.

Messiaen was also the topic of Lundblad's dissertation in musicology, defended at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. This study is available here: A Composite Modernist Composer : A Study of Intersections between Composition, Theorizing, and Performance in Olivier Messiaen - Doria

Jonas’s basic theoretical training occurred within theology, with a Master of Theology awarded in 2008 from Lund University. He pursued doctoral studies in Systematic Theology from 2009, focusing on theological aesthetics and most specifically the Early German theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher. Part of this work was conducted as a Research Fellow at the School of Critical Studies at Glasgow University and at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

This background has shaped further research after a gradual move into the discipline of musicology. Lundblad's work typically bridges historical musicology and aesthetics, including topics and methods such as hermeneutics and musical interpretation. At Åbo Akademi, Jonas is an Associate Professor (Docent) in historical musical aesthetics.

Besides studies of Early German Romanticism and Idealism, Jonas has published widely on Lutheran theology of music and church music. He was the working editor in a major forthcoming history of church music in Sweden throughout a millennium and prepares a monograph on the period 1800-2017. His future work will concentrate on Swedish and French art music in the twentieth century, including further studies of Messiaen and composers linked to him.

As a musician, Jonas is a concert organist, recording artist and serves on the musical staff at Västerås Cathedral. A prolific freelance career, performing both as an organ soloist and with choirs and orchestras, has taken him to countries across Europe and North America. With his dual competence in musicology, he enjoys delving into archives and libraries in pursuit of unknown or forgotten works. In cooperation with the Swedish label Caprice Music, he has issued a string of highly acclaimed CD recordings that traverse unfamiliar streaks in Swedish organ history. The latest release was the 2023 album Orchestral Transitions: Swedish Symphonic Music for the Organ.

As a researcher at the Department of Musicology at Uppsala University, Jonas engages with historical musical aesthetics in a variety of ways, exploring connections to both philosophy and theology. A particular interest remains the legacy of German Romanticism, as well as the following German tradition of thought and music. Jonas joined the Department in 2014 on a artistic research project on Messiaen, funded by the Swedish Research Council. After a stint of service at the classical music at the Swedish Radio, he returned in 2020. Current projects involve editorial work and research for a multi-volumed history of church music in Sweden, as well as participation in a major digitalization of musical sources from the Swedish 18th century. Jonas also specializes in the history of Swedish organ music and participates in a number of forthcoming editions of previously neglected repertoires.