It wasn’t a typical stage or her regular audience, but a professional musician still managed to play one of her favourite concertos on a flute while she was lying on an operating table undergoing brain surgery.

Anna Henry, from Lubbock, Tex., had been suffering from tremors since childhood. It’s a condition she said runs in her family, according to local media. A few years ago, the trembling worsened to the point where the now 63-year-old flutist’s left hand and fingers shook so badly it impacted her ability to write and play her instrument.

In the hopes of reducing the tremors, Henry underwent brain surgery at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, Tex. on Tuesday.

In a procedure called deep brain stimulation, surgeons implanted tiny electrodes into Henry’s brain that deliver a constant electric current to control the tremors.

Henry was required to be awake for the procedure so doctors could tell if the stimulation was effective.

The surgery appeared to be a success because Henry managed to hold her flute and play a song while she was still lying on the operating table. Following the concert, the doctors and nurses inside the operating room broke out in applause.