PLAISTOW — The 14-year-old harpist loves the silence after a moving song.
Anna DeLoi will soon have a chance to move almost a million listeners when a solo of hers airs on National Public Radio's "From the Top."
The program showcases young musicians playing and talking about classical music.
For her selection, Anna chose the waltz "Valse," by Arnold Bax, because it isn't a stereotypical, angelic harp piece.
Rather, it's both frilly and aggressive, she said, showing the instrument's versatility.
Anna, a home-schooled student, said she has no idea why she has wanted to play the harp for as long as she can remember.
She played piano from age 6 to 9, but was always after her mother to find her a harp teacher, mom Candy DeLoi said.
"She wore me down," DeLoi said.
Harp teachers are tough to find, but they settled on Stephanie Curcio of Stratham.
Curcio tries to hold Anna back from the adult-size harp she plays. It can injure young hands, shoulders and arms.
But Anna is intense and immensely gifted, and dives right into the music.
"She absolutely lives and breathes harp," Curcio said. "She is so gifted and so advanced, and she devours music."
Anna practices four hours a day. On Saturdays, she studies all day at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston.
Her living room holds eight bins of sheet music, a grand concert harp and music stands thick with sheet music.
Photographs and music programs sit on the fireplace mantle. Her brother, Tom, 17, a Timberlane Regional High School student, plays flute and piano.
Anna wants to play in a major orchestra some day.
Yesterday, she was practicing with Keith Williams, a young cello player from Boston. The two will play this summer, performing benefit concerts for CareSearch, which provides medical care for needy patients.
Anna, who stands about 5 feet 1 inch, pulled her harp against her shoulder, playing "Spanish Dance" by Manuel de Falla.
She worked the harp's pedal with stockinged feet, her hands at once dancing and attacking the strings.
The song was beautiful and dramatic, not unlike the song she will play on From The Top.
To some it may seem a little bit creepy because Anna said she pictures a pretty demented doll when she plays.
"The eyes turn red," she said, laughing.
But music's ability to transport people, player and listener alike, is what Anna loves.
"When you stop and there's just silence, and no one can clap," she said. "The music just hangs there."
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