[4] In 2020, the Festival was scheduled for 28 March - 11 April, but the lockdown restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the cancellation of all events.
Over the years, the festival's participants have included national and international stars of classical music, such as composer and conductor Myroslav Skoryk,[10] conductor Tomasz Bugaj, Paul Lewis (pianist) and George Li, the duo Igudesman & Joo, Les Musiciens du Louvre, cellist Gautier Capuçon, vocalist Olga Busuioc, and others.
Throughout the years, the Festival Orchestra has featured such soloists as Vaclav Dvořák, Agata Šymčevska, Volodymyr Mykytka, Till Hoffman, Myroslava Kotorovych, under the direction of such conductors as Fakhraddin Kerimov, Ivan Cherednychenko, Stanislav Khristenko and others.
All-Ukrainian Young Composers Competition named after Borys Lyatoshynsky was established in 2019 as part of the Kharkiv Music Festival.
The orchestra brings together about 50 students of Kharkiv's music education institutions and gives them the opportunity to gain professional experience in orchestral musicianship at a young age, regularly improve their performing arts throughout the year under the guidance of the orchestra's conductor and experienced teachers, learn about classical music masterpieces, and perform at concert venues in Kharkiv and other cities and countries.
[13] Over the three years of the orchestra's existence, the young orchestral players have worked with conductors from Ukraine (Vitalii Lyashko, Nataliia Stets, Nazar Yakobenchuk, Yuriy Yakovenko), Germany (Vitali Alekseenok) and the USA (Stanislav Khristenko).