Instrumentalists take their place around the room, facing inward toward the cluster of microphones at the center. They begin to tune their instruments and await their cue to begin.

Along with four other musicians, as a part of the Virtuosi of Houston Orchestra, senior Anthony Cooper played Christmas music for 92 FM radio station on Dec. 23.

After playing at an assisted living home, the Virtuosi manager offered Cooper the opportunity to play on the radio with other musicians. According to Cooper, the opportunity to see a radio station for the first time was exciting.

“My first thoughts were ‘Wo,I can’t wait to see what it’ll be like.’,” Cooper said. “The studio was located inside a tall building downtown. I was surprised to find out other stations like 94.5 and 95.7 broadcast from the same building.”

Although this opportunity excited Cooper, he said the overall experience was not nerve-wracking.

“Normally when I perform in a concert, it’s on a huge stage and there are a bunch of people staring at me,” Cooper said. “In my experience, playing on the radio is much more relaxing than performing on a stage. Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous at all. It seemed as if I wasn’t performing for a huge audience, but for one person with a microphone.”

In addition to being less nerve-wracking then a concert, the performance required less preparation than a concert.

“To be honest, I didn’t start preparing the music until about an hour before going on the air,” Cooper said. “The group I was working with is very talented, so we didn’t need to practice that much anyway. We actually practiced what we were going to say in response to the host’s questions more than the music.”

Cooper began cultivating his talent in fifth grade, when he played cello as a part of the Haude strings program. According to Cooper, he would gladly play again on the radio, however, he will not pursue a career in music but rather in engineering.