[1] Buch was born in Detroit and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy.
He has published numerous scholarly studies on a range of topics in music, having explored archives and libraries in many European cities.
[2] His research has received international attention[3] owing to the discovery of new attributions to Mozart in Emanuel Schikaneder's collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen oder Die Zauberinsel (Vienna, 1790).
In 1998 he was named UNI Distinguished Scholar and received the Donald N. McKay Research Award.
[5] He has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, and as guest soloist with the Eckstein String Quartet (principals of the CSO).