pipe organ

The 100-year-old annual honors convocation at the University of Michigan is typically a decorous affair, with a pipe organ accompanying golf-clap applause.

The finale was a striking example of the way that Malone, 29, is rethinking the pipe organ for a contemporary context.

That richness does not depend on the usual elements of plays or prayer: characters and narratives, pipe organs and priests.

It is not just her performances which have proved popular, but behind-the-scenes explainers into the way pipe organs work, unexpected mash-ups - Bach meets Faithless at the Ministry of Sound Classical earlier this month, for example.

The Vielmetter exhibition cross-referenced elaborate paintings with a pair of projected videos and a sound installation, its sonic form made by blowing into the disassembled wooden reed boxes of a vintage pipe organ.