In the legacy of such great mandolinists as Jacob do Bandolim, Joel Nascimento and Armandinho Macedo, the young Hamilton de Holanda, born in 1976, is revolutionizing the emblematic instrument of choro, the bandolim, to which he added a fifth double string (for a total of 10 vs. 8) and on which he developed a thorough polyphonic playing technique, especially in solo, as well as an enriched timbral and percussive palette. His capacity for invention is endless and the sound he works out from his 10-string bandolim is powerful and precise.
Like Egberto Gismonti, Hermeto Pascoal and Astor Piazzolla, he veers off from the traditional style with more jazzy sidemen while maintaining the expressive fullness of the greatest. His music is always innovating. "Hamilton is a born musician, and a gifted one. Everything is easy for him. This young man is already one of the greatest instrumentalists in Brazil and in the world. Although he comes from school of Jacob do Bandolim, Hamilton goes beyond traditional borders and proposes a renovation of choro.” Hermeto Pascoal.
His talent goes rapidly beyond the borders of Brazil : in December 2001, Hamilton vied with the cream of Brazilian performers of academic music and of improvised music, and won the Icatu Music Prize in both disciplines, which earned him a fellowship at the Cité des Arts in Paris until February 2003. He naturally took advantage of this stay to build a bridge with the Old Continent, where he has been regularly touring since he settled in Brazil again.
With absolute freedom, he managed to forge his personality from elements of his natural environment, multiple intercultural encounters and an incredibly rich track of multifarious experiences. Hamilton of Holanda’s sources lie in the classical repertoire, in the jazz repertoire and in Brazilian popular music. He is characterized by precocity and adaptability: he feels comfortable and in communion in a concert with a symphonic orchestra,, with famous artists like Buena Vista Social Club, Césaria Evora, Djavan, John Paul Jones, Mike Marhall, Stanley Jordan, João Bosco,Zelia Duncan, Ivan Lins or Richard Galliano, or alone on stage with his bandolim.

BIO
Hamilton de Holanda was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1976 and shortly thereafter his family moved to the capital, Brasilia.
I was five years old and my grandfather gave me my first mandolin.
My father was my first maestro. In 1982, Hamilton was six years old. He and his eleven-year-old brother, Fernando César, who played the seven-string guitar, formed the duo called Dois de Ouro.
Since there wasn't a mandolin professor I had to take the violin course as it was the most “similar” instrument, or at least one with the same tuning.
Hamilton studied at the Brasilia School of Music from 1983 to 1992.
His education continued with a Diploma in Composition from the University of Brasilia, where he won the “Award for Best Work of Scientific Initiation in Music” – PIBIC – for his composition of a concert for mandolin and orchestra.
His composition “Destroçando a macaxeira” won second place and later entitled the first Dois de Ouro CD. Published in 1997, both the public and critics alike received this CD with great attention.
In October 1998, the Dois de Ouro duo published the album entitled “A nova cara do velho Choro” (The New Face of Old Choro). The daily Correio Braziliense elected it as the MPB disc of the year. And Dois de Ouro won the Prêmio Candango de Cultura award given by the Secretaria de Cultura do Distrito Federal (Secretary of Culture of the Federal District).
Also in Rio, in 1999, Hamilton joined guitarist Marco Pereira and Zélia Duncan on the Grandes Encontros project at the Leblon Theater and then with Marco Pereira and Dois de Ouro at the Clube do Choro in Brasilia with the “50 anos de Brasileirinho” concert.
They ranked third at the “1st MPB Visa Awards”. This result was considered unfair and was contested by the audience present at the Cultura Artística Theater in São Paulo.
In February 2000, he toured with Marco Pereira in the south of France.
He played as a soloist with the Cláudio Santoro National Theater Symphony Orchestra, the Brasilia Philharmonic Orchestra, the State of São Paulo Jazz Symphony Orchestra and with the Brasilia School of Music Orchestra.
In 1999, 2000 and 2001, he taught bandolim (mandolin) at the Brasilia School of Music and the Raphael Rabello Brazilian School of Choro (Rabello was a great guitar player who died prematurely). This was the first school of this kind in Brazil and Hamilton went on to become its coordinator.
In September 2000, Dois de Ouro published its third album entitled simply “Dois de Ouro”. Next, in early 2001, came the album “Luz das Cordas” with guitar player Marco Pereira.
A “historic” concert was the 15th Edition of the Free Jazz Festival in Rio de Janeiro and then in São Paulo. He also performed at the Arts Alive International Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Paris Music Festival, the Vienna Jazz Festival and at the Brazilian Music Festival in Istanbul.
More recent group work has included the Brasília Brasil Trio, formed with guitarists Rogério Caetano and Daniel Santiago. The trio has already won the Rumos Musicais Itaú Cultural award for its original “sound.” It published a CD entitled “Abre Alas” in 2001 on the Caravelas label.
On December 4, 2001, he unanimously won the Icatu Hartford de Artes 2001 award for Best Instrumentalist in Brazil. This allowed him to live a year in Paris in the Cité Internationale des Arts.
In June 2002, he performed concerts in various Brazilian cities to present his first “solo” CD entitled “Hamilton de Holanda”, recorded on the Velas label. The album was dedicated to the four masters of the mandolin: Jacob, Luperce, Joel and Armandinho.
In July 2002, he was a guest at two important festivals in Corsica: Les Nuits de La guitare with Marco Pereira and the first ever International Mandolin Festival of Corsica, of which he is now the “Official Godfather.”
In September he played before an audience of 10,000 people at the São Luiz International Music Festival. He then went back to Paris, where he met resounding success at the La Cigalle Theater at a show of Márcio Faraco, a Brazilian with deep roots in France.
Shows then followed at the Paris Clube do Choro, the La Vieille Grille Theater and the Baiser Salé Jazz Club.
He was once again on tour in France, with his brother Fernando César on the seven-string guitar. He was called the “Prince de la mandoline” by the Parisian periodical Nova Magazine. He returned to France in 2003, this time with his Brasília Brasil group.
With Marco Pereira, he toured in Italy and Switzerland for the first time in November, with 12 concerts including these cities: Milan, Genoa, Verona, Siena and Bellinzona.
In April, he took off for a tour in the USA, playing at university campuses in Florida with Marco Pereira and in Los Angeles with the Brazilian Modern Choro Ensemble, receiving renewed acclaim from audiences and critics alike.