His own mother fled the Nazis in 1939. Today his orchestra includes a number of Ukranians - many of them women from Odesa who've fled the war back home.
Before the war broke out, back in January, our reporter Paraic O’Brien was in Mariupol, where he spent time filming with two teachers at a local elementary school in the east of the city.
Ukrainians with relatives in the UK have a right to come here provided they have a visa. But a man from Essex has been waiting for nearly three weeks for his parents, sister and nephews to get to the UK.