Augie and Amanda

Augie Bello and Amanda Barise became a duo back in August of 2016. From that day on, they have been writing, recording videos and performing together in NYC. They met while at an orientation event their first month of college and have been best friends ever since. They are currently enrolled in their sophomore year of college at The New School for Jazz. They were recently granted the opportunity of performing at The Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee Lounge in Tribeca at iHeart Radio's Headquarters.  Recently, Augie and Amanda created the band General Soul.  Now that they have a full band their compositions can be brought to life like never before.

As a vocalist, Amanda's talent has brought her onto stages across America. She has performed at renowned venues such as New York City’s Cotton Club, OSPAC Theater and IZod Center where she was the youngest artist ever on stage. She has sung the National Anthem at nationally televised events for the New Jersey Nets and HBO Boxing. At the ages of nine, ten, and eleven, she won first-place in the Solo Vocalist category for three consecutive years in the Starpower National Talent competition and has twice won the Future Stars Competition at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Augie has achieved much success as a tenor sax player in his school jazz ensembles, including an Afro-Cuban Jazz Band in addition to performing with established professional bands as featured guest tenor sax player in “Goolis” and “Smilen”  and “Barometer Soup.”  In addition to performing in various capacities, Augie has written and produced several original songs, in which he plays both piano and saxophone with his duo, “Augie and Amanda.”  He also enjoys creating mashups of his favorite songs and adding his own improvisations.  Back in October of 2016, Augie performed on for the soundtrack of My Cricket and Me, a movie starring Willie Nelson.