The Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung was established in 1963 by Oscar and Vera Ritter and approved as a nonprofit foundation by the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on December 18, 1964. The purpose of the foundation is the personal and institutional support of professional training and scholarship assistance for musicians and composers.
The foundation supports exceptionally talented young musicians in accordance with the focus areas of their patronage: these include, for example, the awarding of scholarships or the loan of musical instruments to highly talented applicants. In addition to the many prizes which the Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung promotes in various categories, the RITTER PRIZE, established in 2001, is endowed with € 15,000.–.It will be awarded annually to musicians or composers for especially outstanding achievements.
The Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung also organizes concerts for up-and-coming talent in Hamburg. In the concert series “Successful Fellowship Holders” and “Prize Winners Present Themselves”, which have been highly popular since decades, young artists display their technical prowess and their remarkable talent in the “Halls of Mozart” (“Mozart-Säle”, Hamburg) and, in the process, gain valuable stage experience.
The Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung is the shareholder of the trading companies TROPAG Oscar H. Ritter Nachf. GmbH and TROPAGES Trade & Service GmbH as well as of the housing association MERKUR Wohnungsgesellschaft m. b. H. The promotion of musical talents by the Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung can be seen as a result of their economic efficiency. This connection is also of symbolic importance: Economic success is not an end in itself, but should benefit people.