The pipe organ goes virtual at the hands (and feet) of Cameron Carpenter.

February 8th will mark the 51st annual Grammy Awards, in which musicians from all over the world will be competing in 31 different categories. One of the contestants in the category of best instrumental solo performance is Cameron Carpenter, a 27-year-old New Yorker who has invented a twenty-first century version of the venerable pipe organ, using electronic equipment and techniques to create the sounds of the instrument at a fraction of the cost of the original.

You can read Roseanne Skirble's story on this enterprising young artist, and listen to excerpts of her interview with him (and see a YouTube video of his performance, including some most extraordinary footwork) on the VOA Website.

You can also read a brief profile of Carpenter in the 15 December issue of one of America's most distinguished weekly magazines, the New Yorker, and hear him in an October National Public Radio feature (the Web page of which includes an interesting series of comments).