What is ABF?

The Alexander & Buono Foundation (ABF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation established in 2008 with a mission is to identify the world’s most promising classical musicians and help them launch and sustain careers, while developing new audiences who understand, value, and appreciate classical music.

With more than half a century of performance, marketing, and publicity experience as the bedrock for their work, Chairmen Barry Alexander and Cosmo Buono fully understand the issues associated with enjoying success in classical music, and are therefore able to offer counsel, expertise, and result-oriented guidance.

Whether through performance, music education, or an array of associated professions, the goal remains simplifying the process by which classical musicians establish fulfilling careers.

Our Focus

At ABF we have always believed that truly great careers are built with consistent effort applied over time.  To that end we have selected some of the most promising artists who have won The Alexander & Buono Competitions for Piano, Voice, Strings and Flute, in order to provide them with greater visibility and awareness of their talent and careers.

Our next project involves concerts for Nana Miyoshi, Anna Shelest and the Shelest Piano Duo.  The ABF 2025-2026 concert season will feature these artists in a series of performances across the New York area.

We invite you to follow us on social media and on our website in order to learn more about these splendid artists.  We also ask that you consider making a donation to the Alexander & Buono Foundation in order to help us continue our work on behalf of these and other wonderful classical musicians.

Achievements

Below are just a few examples of hundreds of artists enjoying success today as a result of their ABC wins, ABF grants, and our ongoing career development counseling:

  • Pianist Jan Lisiecki went on to sign a five-CD contract with Deutsche Grammophon after winning the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition.

  • Pianist Anna Shelest made debuts at Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls with orchestra, and her Kennedy Center debut, all in less than a year, while also receiving a recording contract with Sorel Classics after her B & B win.

  • Following his B & B win Rupert Egerton-Smith was chosen to join the roster of Alexander & Buono Artists, made Artist-in-Residence of Oxfordshire’s Orchestra of St John’s, and performed for Her Majesty Queen Camilla as part of the Hundredth Anniversary Celebration of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” at Salisbury Cathedral. His latest release is The Uppingham Recordings. Owing to these and other accomplishments he was named a Steinway Artist in March of  2025.

  • Pianists Umi Garrett, George Ko, Arianna Körting, Thomas Nickell, and Andrew Vargas, all Foundation grant recipients, went on to become Young Steinway Artists, a distinction held by less than 130 pianists worldwide.