The Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition is organized by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in cooperation with the Rectors' Conference of German Music Universities (RKM) and the Berlin University of the Arts.

The violin virtuoso Ibolyka Gyarfas was born in Budapest in 1901 and showed extraordinary talent from a young age: She made her first public concert appearance at the age of seven and gave her Berlin debut at the age of ten.

The competition, which offers a total prize of 6,000 euros, is named after the pianist Artur Schnabel, who taught at the Berlin College of Music—now the Berlin University of the Arts—from 1925 to 1931.

Composer Alice Samter bequeathed a substantial fortune to the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) in 1999/2000. This generous donation is managed by the Berlin University of the Arts Foundation, and the proceeds are used to support students in the School of Music.

Die UdK Berlin erhielt 1996 die großzügige Spende eines aktiv am Veranstaltungsleben der Hochschule teilnehmenden Gönners: ein Haus mit Grundstück in der Nähe von Hamburg. Die Mieteinnahmen ermöglichen die Durchführung des Wettbewerbs.

Mit dem JIB-Jazz-Preis der Karl Hofer Gesellschaft, gestiftet von Toni und Albrecht Kumm, werden junge Jazz-Musikerinnen und -Musiker des Jazz-Instituts Berlin (JIB) gefördert. Der mit 5000 Euro dotierte Preis wird ab 2014 jährlich vergeben.

Max Rostal played an important role in the history of violin playing, both as performer and as teacher.