In his article entitled “Do not let your children inherit this war” published by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russian Newspaper), President of the Russian Television Academy, Doctor of Art Criticism Mikhail Shvydkoi gave the details of Vladimir Spivakov’s tour  of Baku and Yerevan. “Armenian musicians saw the Caspian Sea and the Baku seaside for the first time. Azerbaijanis were surprised at being warmly welcomed at one of the Yerevan markets,” the author writes.

Not only New York, Paris, Astana, Ashgabad, Kiev, and Moscow, but also Baku and Yerevan were included in the program of the concert tour by the CIS Youth Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra has already made tours of the South Caucasus states, but it is the first time in the last 20 years that young Armenian musicians have performed at the concert hall of the Baku Philharmonic Society, while Azerbaijanis have performed at the great concert hall of the Yerevan Philharmonic Society.

“It seems to have been the first time in the last 20 years that an Armenian citizen has flown to Baku on a scheduled flight by the Azerbaijani airlines. Three days later, an Azerbaijani citizen arrived in Moscow from Yerevan on an Armavia plane. Without any bodyguards, three of us (Ambassadors Polad Byul-Byul oghlu, Armen Smbatyan and Mikhail Shvydkoi), old fellows… It was a special flight, but a scheduled one, and all the passengers, both us and the musicians, had Baku-Yerevan tickets. My companions were happy to see the tickets like children – no one had seen such a thing for 20 years. It was impossible to imagine even two years ago,” Shvydkoi writes. 

“It would be naïve to think that beauty can save the world. However, without it people cannot understand that they can change world for the better – or at least themselves in this world. I do not know about the experience of the Yerevan and Baku audience during the CIS Youth Orchestra’s tours. I am sure, however, they did not think of war. There was no hatred inside their souls, just as in the hearts of the young musicians from Azerbaijan and Armenia, who appear to be ready to perform together as long as the two nations’ leaders need to find a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict, which has lasted for 20 years,” Shvydkoi concludes.