Luis Miguel Araya started playing the trumpet when he was ten years old because a classmate he admired took up the trumpet.

Araya is now a second-year graduate student about to get his masters in trumpet performance.

He is two days away from playing a solo concerto with the accompaniment of the Loyola chamber orchestra.

Though Araya might have started playing trumpet arbitrarily, he decided to continue when he saw that he had a knack for it.

“I started liking the trumpet with time, and I was one of the better trumpet students, so I decided to keep going,” Araya said.

In his native Costa Rica, Araya attended a fine arts high school that allowed him to combine academics with the study of music.It was during his senior year that he decided to pursue music after graduation.

“During my last year in high school, I started to play Latin dance music; and I decided that music was my life,” Araya said.

Araya received his undergraduate degree from the National Institute of Music in Costa Rica.

While he was playing second trumpet with the symphony orchestra in Costa Rica and teaching at his alma mater, Araya applied for and received a full music scholarship that Loyola offers to Costa Rican students.

Since arriving at Loyola, Araya has played with the symphony orchestra, the wind ensemble, the jazz band, and a brass quintet.

In October, he decided to audition for a music department competition that gives winners the opportunity to play a solo concerto with an orchestra.

Dean Angeles, director of Loyola orchestras and professor of string education, started the competition twenty years ago.

Angeles and a panel of professors from the music department judge the competition, choosing two to four winners each year.

Though all of this year’s winners play instruments, the competition is also open to vocalists.

The only catch is that the musicians must have their concertos memorized for both the audition and the performance.

Araya practiced for at least three hours a day in preparation for the audition.

“I was nervous but that’s always, and I am able to control those nerves,” Araya said.

Araya chose G.P. Telemann’s Concerto in D Major, which is played on the piccolo trumpet, an instrument that is about half the size of a regular trumpet.

Both Araya and his teacher, Jeremy Brekke, trumpet instructor, rejoiced at the news that Araya was chosen as one of the winners.

“I was very happy for him and really pleased that he performed so well. He made it look easy,” Brekke said.

Angeles also praised Araya’s skills.

“Luis is just a phenomenal trumpet player,” Angeles said.

Now that the date of the performance is nearing, Araya is starting to anticipate the performance.

“It’s not nervousness exactly, it’s anxiousness. I’m excited,” Araya said.

Though the preparation has been demanding, Araya said that he has learned from the experience.

“I have to be flexible because I’m playing with so many players so it’s different to put them all together,” Araya said. “I think it’s a very good thing that I have learned.”

Araya will receive his master’s degree in May and his teacher sees big things for Araya’s future.

“He’ll be in the professional playing scene, I’m sure, for his whole life,” Brekke said.

Araya will be performing his concerto with the chamber orchestra on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Roussel Hall. Entrance is free.

The concert will also feature String Quartet No. 8 for String Orchestra by Dmitri Schostakovich and “Holberg” Suite by Edvard Grieg.

“They are the up-and-coming stars that you will probably hear about in the classical scene later, and I think that that really speaks highly of the college of music,” Angeles said.