The Hugo Kauder Society was founded in 2002 to foster awareness and appreciation of the composer Hugo Kauder and to provide opportunities to emerging musicians to perform or even premiere his works.

The Society was created in part as a response to the growing numbers of audience, performers, and scholars who are giving a fresh look at the work of composers whose access to the public was denied by the Third Reich. Hugo Kauder was one of these composers, forced to leave his beloved Vienna to continue his career. He was able to resume teaching and writing in New York, eventually completing over 300 compositions, but only about one quarter of these works are commercially available. Many others, held by his estate, are yet to be published.

The Society seeks to preserve and promote this body of work by archiving original manuscripts, scores, and writings; organizing world-premiere recordings and performances of previously unpublished works; and presenting an annual music competition for outstanding young musicians ages 35 and under. Each competition features a different body of Kauder works and instruments.