Born in Budapest, he studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and earned his diploma first at the musicological and then in the piano department.
His activities include composition, concert performances, teaching, and musicological research.
[1] He formed his first band in 1962, and with them made the first LP in the Hungarian "Modern Jazz" series.
In the late 1960s, he co-led the Gonda-Krusa Quartet with the Polish vibraphonist Richard Kruza.
[4] Gonda was head of the jazz department affiliated with the Association of Hungarian Musicians.