BERLIN — Organizers of a Swiss music festival say Israeli conductor Israel Yinon collapsed during a performance and died.

Yinon was conducting a piece by Richard Strauss on Thursday night when he collapsed, said Marc Reinhardt, a spokesman for the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, whose students were performing.

Reinhardt told The Associated Press on Friday an audience member tried to save Yinon, but he died in the ambulance on his way to a hospital. He had no details on what caused Yinon to collapse.

The 59-year-old conductor had previously led the students of the Jungen Philharmonie Zentralschweiz orchestra in concerts in 2009 and 2012.

The school said they lost "not only a highly regarded musical colleague and sensitive educator, but a big-hearted friend."