Photo by Freddy Castiblanco

The pianist and composer Holman Alvarez was born in Barranquilla and raised in Cali – Colombia. He enjoy finding connections between things. This kind of thinking has allowed him to mix in his music ideas who come from several influences like Colombian and Latin American music, Jazz, classic and contemporary music, salsa, free improvisation; and also connections with other areas of knowledge.

He studied piano and composition at Universidad del Valle in Cali and his magister in composition at Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá-Colombia. He also studied piano-jazz at the Conservatorio Manuel de Falla in Buenos Aires Argentina.

In the years that he lived in Bogotá (2011-2022), he recorded five albums as a leader and several others as a sideman. He became part of the group of improvisers who played regularly in Matik-Matik, the iconic bar in Bogotá that allowed all kinds of experimentation. In those years he worked as an assistant professor at Universidad Javeriana as well as an adjunct professor at Universidad Nacional, Universidad de Cundinamarca, and Universidad de Los Andes.

As a sideman pianist, he performed with important national musicians like Antonio Arnedo, Jorge Sepúlveda, Lucía Pulido, and Gina Savino among others; as well as international musicians who have visited Colombia, like Victor Mendoza, Antonio Sanchez, Guillermo Klein, among others.

As a composer he has written for several formats:
In 2015 the String Quartet in three movements called Cuarteto primo.
In 2016 the piece Trilogo para ensamble Pierrot y Jazz combo.
In 2016 and 2017, he was commissioned by the Bogotá Big Band and Jazz al Parque festival to write two pieces: Duna and Pieza para bailar respectively.
In 2020 the Modular Project from Medellín Philharmonic comissioned him: En un abrir y cerrar de ojos for chamber sextet and, in 2021 La rebelión de los genes for string trio and flute.
In 2022 he composed:
Súplica y Réplica for a mixed choir commissioned by Universidad Javeriana, naturaleza sin Naturaleza, a piece in three movements for guitar and flute, and Es más lo que nos une que lo que nos separa, also in three movements for flute and piano commissioned both by the flutist Elizabeth Osorio.
Composer of music for audiovisual media since 2004 until now. In 2018 was nominated for best song with Cumbia y Sal from the movie Sal by William Vega at the Macondo Film awards in Bogotá-Colombia. In 2024 his song called He ganado y he perdido was featured in the film El Canto del Auricanturi by Camila Rodriguez Triana.

His interest in other art forms had him taken to work with writers, curators, and visual artists, collaborating on projects as Hegelian Dancers with the art collective Fleshy school at the Arts Academy of China in Hangzhou 2019.
In October 2023?he released the album LIMINAL along with colombian musicians Kike Harker and Ramón Berrocal. The album received an award granted by the colombian Ministry of Culture.

In 2024 Sunnyside records will release his new album called Hidden Objects along with NY based musicians Adam O’Farril, Drew Gress and Satoshi Takeishi.
He is currently living in Queens, NYC .