[1] Hamar started to play the piano at the age of six and later studied composition at the Béla Bartók Conservatoire.
He followed university studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, where he had courses in composition with Emil Petrovics and in conducting with Ervin Lukacs and Tamas Gal; he graduated in 1995.
In 1997 he was invited by musical director Zoltán Kocsis to become first permanent conductor of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1998 Hamar assisted Lorin Maazel for Verdi's Don Carlos at the Salzburger Festspiele.
He recorded works of Franz Liszt with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler's Symphony No.