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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.

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.

  • 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.