About Us

A winner of Steinway & Sons’ Top Teacher of the Year Award, Cosmo Buono has distinguished himself internationally as both a piano pedagogue and career consultant.  Advocating rich and expressive playing, he discourages students from note-perfect performances that lack enthusiasm, in favor of a complete understanding and communication of the musical idiom of the composer.

As Artistic Director Emeritus of the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, described as “one of the most important piano competitions in the world,” he has also served as Executive Director of the Alexander & Buono International Competitions for Voice, Strings, and Flute.

Acting as advisor to some of today’s most distinguished concert artists, among them conductor and pianist Félix Ardanaz, Jan Lisiecki, Nana Miyoshi, and Anna Shelest, he has been responsible for guiding these and many other artists toward sustained career success and distinction.

A Steinway Artist, Mr. Buono completed his studies at New York University, Bard College, and The Juilliard School. Having first come to international prominence with the Bradshaw & Buono piano team, he and the late David Bradshaw did much to restore awareness of rare works written by Chopin, Liszt, Rossini, and Schubert in concerts and festivals throughout the world, including New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Mostly Mozart Festival, as well as through their discography of Grammy-nominated recordings.