Award-winning conductor Israel Yinon is reminding people about the horrors of the Holocaust.

Mr Yinon, 53, has devoted much of his career to rediscovering lost works from the Second World War.

Last week, he was in London, conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the UK premier of the late German composer Tilo Medek’s first Cello Concerto.

The concert also marked the anniversary of the birthday of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who, born into a Jewish family which later converted to Christianity, had his music banned by the Nazis. Mr Yinon tells People: “I find it very worrying how totalitarian regimes can have such an impact. We have to warn people so that it doesn’t ever happen again.

“I’ve done quite a lot of significant concerts but this is a very significant one for me.”

The concert, which took place at London’s Cadogan Hall, also featured award-winning cellist Guido Schiefen.

“I think it’s important that artists try to give something back to the community,” adds Mr Yinon.

“Conducting is an endless way of giving and sharing — and with no agenda.”

Born in Israel, he studied conducting and composition at Tel Aviv University and the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.

His debut CD, the world-premiere recording of the symphonic works of Viktor Ullmann, with the Czech Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, won him the coveted German Reviewers’ Recording Prize in 1993.

Later that year, he led the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in a televised concert.

In 2005, Mr Yinon planned and conducted a gala concert to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Germany.