Israeli Conductor Israel Yinon, Known for Reviving the Works of Holocaust Composers, Collapses and Dies on Stage During a Concert

Renowned Israeli conductor Israel Yinon collapsed and died on stage while conducting a concert in Switzerland on Thursday evening.

The 59-year-old Yinon was right in was in the middle of leading “An Alpine Symphony” by German composer Richard Strauss in the Swiss city of Lucerne when he slumped over and fell onto the ground of the concert hall.

According to The Times of Israel, the conductor fell off the stage and sustained a bad head injury, dying before the ambulance was able to arrive at the hall. An audience member rushed to the stage but was not able to save Yinon. The cause of the collapse and his death is still not clear.

Yinon was born in 1956 in Kfar Saba, Isreal. In his younger years, he studied conducting, music theory and composition at the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv as well as the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. He later moved to Germany and dedicated his career to rediscovering and presenting works by composers who were killed during the Holocaust.

According to an article on BBC, The "highly regarded" conductor was hailed as "a sensitive educator" by Marc Reinhardt, a spokesman for the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts where he worked.
Yinon was the first to record the symphonic works of Viktor Ullmann and was instumental in reviving works by Ernest Bloch, Karol Rathaus and Pavel Haas. He also served as the guest conductor for numerous different orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the London Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Antwerp Flemish Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony and the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends during this difficult time.