The Borletti Buitoni Encore Award belongs to that category of truly special awards for a musician. It is not just a prize for technical and musical value, but an award that has pushed me to be visionary, creative, almost a manager. It is the type of award that elevates the musician to the more important figure of a true artist, who is socially engaged and can improve the world, giving an active contribution through the beauty and universal language of music.

I consider it a much more important and significant award than the classic competition prizes, which someone more important than me once described as races for horses… With the Encore award, the musician’s great technical and expressive ability is already implied, and thus what is truly valued is the artistic capacity to influence the improvement of society. I therefore hope the award can grow more and more and receive as much support as possible.

Alessio Pianelli (Artist Encore Award 2025)

There’s perhaps nothing more exciting than seeing a new idea flourish into something remarkable, rich and impactful. We are currently piloting three projects as our inaugural Artist Encore Awards, designed to give three BBT alumni the opportunity to devise and deliver personal classical music projects that tackle societal issues or inequalities in the communities where they live and work.

We will soon evaluate these pilots, using the key learning to shape an extended round of Artist Encore Awards in 2027. We will use this learning to inspire more of our BBT alumni to conceive and develop projects of their own over the next years, reaching marginalised communities everywhere, and we are seeking like-minded partners interested in helping us to fund many more exemplar projects that can blaze a trail for the classical music sector at large. To find out more, or to have a conversation about how you can help, please contact BBT Chief Executive, Toby Smith here