Kety Fusco, how did your passion for a unique instrument like the harp begin, and what were your first steps in the world of music?
My passion for the harp was born almost by magic. I was six years old when I saw it for the first time: enormous, luminous, with a sound that seemed to come from another world. It all began there, with the Lucca Conservatory, between classical studies and my first competitions. Every note became a step towards my identity.
When and how did you decide that your career choice would be to become a harpist?
I was nine years old when I gave my first concert. I remember the silence, my shaking hands, the emotion. It was then that I realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. My teacher told me I was too rebellious to be in an orchestra, that I would become a soloist. Those words stayed with me for years.
You define yourself as "a visionary harpist who has transformed her instrument into an innovative force in contemporary music." What does that mean?
It means finding my own voice through an instrument often perceived as ancient. I believe the harp still has a lot to say, even today. I use electronics, noises, silences, and I even hid a microphone in the soundboard to make it "speak." It's a bridge between past and future, an artistic mission.
Her passion for experimentation has led her to perform at major events. What have been her most memorable experiences?
The Royal Albert Hall was a dream. The Notte della Taranta, the Montreux Jazz Festival, Euro Jazz in Mexico, the tour in Peru: every concert spoke different languages. But the place I feel most at home is the Teatro Sociale in Bellinzona, where it all began. Every time I return there, I feel as moved as the first time.
How does the inspiration for a soundtrack arise and develop?
It's a craft and spiritual endeavor. I look, I listen to the silences, I search for the invisible breath of the image. Then I begin to sculpt the sounds. Inspiration often comes before bed, when everything relaxes. I always keep my voice memo app ready on my bedside table: every idea, even a whisper, can become music.
What is artistic freedom for you?
It's the right to be true to yourself. It's being able to lose yourself, change, create without asking permission. I've never rejected tradition: it's the suitcase full of stories from which I begin to create the new. The avant-garde, for me, is born where the past melts into the present and becomes something that still has no name.
What are your recent projects?
«It came out my new album BohemianI composed a soundtrack together with Daniela Pes for the documentary Wider Than the Sky by Valerio Jalongo. I'll soon be leaving for the United States, where I'll be performing at SXSW in Austin, and I'm working on a major project with Jeff Mills and the Philharmonie de Paris. At the same time, I'm organizing the Floating Notes Festival, my own festival: the preview will be held on May 24th at the Teatro del Gatto in Ascona, with two exclusive concerts by Lucrecia Dalt and Chiara Dubey and a press conference during which we'll announce the lineup for the festival itself, which will take place from October 30th to November 1st at the Teatro Sociale in Bellinzona.
What is your greatest desire, artistically and personally?
"To continue to sincerely search for my identity, to leave a mark on the way the harp is perceived in contemporary music. To collaborate with international artists, take on new challenges, and take the harp to places it has never been before. Looking back, I know I've been true to who I am."
