The festival is organised with the support of Heydar Aliyev Foundation at the initiative of the rector of the Baku Academy of Music Farhad Badalbeyli and conductor Dmitri Yablonski.

Performances were held by famous musicians from 16 countries such as USA, France, Israel, Mexico, Cuba, Poland, Russia, Italy, Spain and so forth.

The festival started with the overture from Uzeyir Hajibeyov's "Koroglu" opera that was performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by professor at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City Oksana Yablonskaya and Azerbaijani conductor Rauf Abdullayev.

[6]  The music pieces in the concert were consisted of the works of well-known composers, including Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Brahms, Schumann, Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Tofig Guliyev and Vagif Mustafazade.

Musicians from 11 countries Jerusalem Symphony Orhchestra, New Russia State Symphony Orchestra , the Azerbaijan State Symphonic Orchestra, “Septeto Santiaguero” jazz band, Oksana Yablonskaya soloists Idil Biret, Vadim Repin, Sergey Leyferkus, Farhad Badalbeyli, Dmitri Yablonski and others made a personal contribution to the concert.

The opening concert of the VII Gabala International Music Festival started with the performances of “Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana” on July 25.

In the closing concert, Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra played F. Amirov’s “Nizami” symphony, A. Piazzola’s “4 seasons in Buenos Aires” and other pieces of classical music conducted by Dmitry Yablonsky (conductor).

Musicians, art collectives, soloists, conductors from Azerbaijan, Austria, Bulgaria, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Italy, France, Spain, Israel, Lithuania and Cuba attended in the festival.

[11] The Azerbaijan State Symphonic Orchestra named after Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Orchestr Wiener Akademie, Spain’s Suite Española, mugam and folkloric trio from Greece ensemble, Cuban Ensemble “Jóvenes Clásicos del Son”, Kiev Virtuosi and Israeli composer, conductor and pianist Gil Shohat and others’ performances constituted a great proportion of concert programme.

[15][19] The final concert of chamber music and the closing ceremony of the festival took place at the Gabala Culture Center with the performances Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Dimitri Yablonsky (music director of Kiev Virtuosi and Conductor Laureate of Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra) is also an organizer of the festival.