Pianist Sophia (Shuhui) Zhou plays Bach’s Goldberg Variations while I live mix a projection of close-ups of her playing with imagery from German brown coal mines.

“Bach versus The Climate Crisis” is a collaboration between pianist Sophia (Shuhui) Zhou and visual artist J Henry Fair, infusing a live performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations with a dynamic mix of abstract, haunting imagery of the German coal industry, and close-up video of the performing musician. It creates a unique multi-media experience while increasing awareness of our impending peril.

Composed in Leipzig at the dawn of European industrialization, "The Goldberg Variations" echoes the genius and complexity of German math, science and engineering, which are the basis of its economic, industrial, and military achievements in the centuries hence.

Leipzig, the hometown of Bach's genius, is also the center of German brown coal.

In spite of the climate crisis, Germany, as does most of the world, still gets 30% of its electricity from coal, the most polluting and climate-damaging way to generate energy.

The pairing of the awe-inspiring "Goldberg Variations" and the surreal abstract aerial images of our destruction of nature thus creates a jarring juxtaposition.