Two wildly contrasted events performed a few hours apart in the ACO’s The Neilson concert hall summed up the multifaceted influence that the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has had on our culture and everyday lives.

On the one hand we had Andrew Bukenya, a UK singer and conductor of Ugandan descent now based in Sydney, directing a diverse 16 voice choir with an equally diverse program after only two rehearsals. His joyful concert, dubbed Bach in Colour, was just that, with him and his singers dressed to dazzle.

On the other hand, we had Australian performer and composer Benjamin Skepper, a child prodigy from the age of two, who could tune a harpsichord as a kid and whose sound world mixes live performances on electric cello and piano with electronic tracks, field recordings and a whole array of effect pedals. Often likened in appearance to Johnny Depp, with long flowing dark hair and moustache and a taste for Gothic black costumes, his Praeludium Y Fuga Remixed played to a darkened hall with smoke machines and an array of atmospheric spotlights behind him.