AZ Bach Aria Consort celebrates musician's 316th birthday

On this date in 1685, a kicking and screaming Johann Sebastian Bach entered the world, giving his family members just a brief glimpse at the kind of musical talent of which he would soon be capable.

Now, 316 years later, the AZ Bach Aria Consort, which made it's debut concert just last season, will throw a birthday bash - complete with cake - for the famous musician tonight.

Grayson Hirst, co-founder of the Consort and associate professor of music at the University of Arizona, described Bach's music as "genius, (combining) a supreme creative power with a forceful, original inventiveness and a vivid, inexhaustible music imagination."

Hirst said a famous group from the '50s and '60s, named "Bach Aria," inspired the development of the AZ Bach Aria Consort.

"We sort of took a cue from them," Hirst said. "It didn't take much prompting because there's a vast amount of music for a small ensemble in the repertoire of works of Johann Sebastian Bach."