He was a musician before the days of punk rock angst and raw-to-the-bone hip-hop. He was before rhythm and blues and before MTV.
But Thursday evening, Johann Sebastian Bach was back - he just looked a little different.
Re-animated in an original program engineered by Digital Worlds Institute artist-in-residence Arturo Sinclair, Bach appeared in a live video Web cast for LiveVibeTV, a 60-minute production presented by the UF College of Fine Arts.
"Bach was, I believe, one of the greatest geniuses in the history of humankind," said Steven Thomas, a cellist and faculty member at UF's School of Music. "He belongs up there with Einstein and that group."
It's been more than 250 years since Bach's "Brandenburg concertos" and "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" joined the ornate melodies of the Baroque music period, but Bach, the esteemed composer of the 18th century, was enthusiastic and willing to answer the questions from the live audience of about 50 at Digital World Institute's REVE facility in Norman Hall.
Resembling the technology used by Pixar Animation Studios and DreamWorks Animation SKG, Bach's lips moved, his eyes twitched and his voice boomed throughout the studio.
"We live in a world with a lot of distractions," said Lucinda Lavelli, dean of the College of Fine Arts. "Here we were able to really focus and experience [the show]."
The program was a collaboration of two of the college's programs: the Digital Worlds Institute and the School of Music.
The first of four scheduled programs, this pilot episode of LiveVibeTV was all about the music.
Hosted by UF senior English major Cameryn Justice, the show featured the music of Thomas and Brazilian guitarist Welson Tremura as well as No Southern Accent, a UF student a cappella group.
The show ended with a collective performance from all of the participating musicians, a mash-up of music that would have made Bach proud.
The show broadcasted live online and can be viewed at livevibetv.com.
