Katherine Siochi Interview – NYC vs. Sarasota

by Barbara | Posted on
In October of 2017, I got to meet Katherine Siochi, former AHS concert artist, 2016 Gold Medalist of the USA International Harp Competition, & current principal harpist with the Sarasota Orchestra (among other accomplishments)! We met for coffee at The Reserve, where we chatted for this interview. I have quite a bit of material, so it’s split into a multiple blog posts (see some of Katherine’s thoughts on tech & social media here). Be sure to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook to be reminded when posts go up!

Katherine recently moved from NYC to Sarasota. When I asked her about the differences between gigging in New York & gigging in Sarasota, I learned some interesting things! I hope you will too in this quick read!

How is being a harpist in Sarasota different from being a harpist in New York?

Well,  it’s…different just because I haven’t lived here very long, but in New York, you have to pay for a car or a harp mover or an uber xl [for gigging]….’cause I didn’t have a car there so anytime you do a gig there’s this huge extra cost to just get your harp to and from the venue. So now that I have a car here, it’s  really nice to be able to move my harp on my own, for free, well the cost of the car, but I have that anyways. So that’s one big difference that’s really nice.

There are definitely way more harpists in New York, and so it’s much more competitive to get gigs…there are way fewer harpists [in Sarasota], so you’re gonna be in higher demand…Fewer people looking for harp lessons, or maybe I just haven’t found them yet….I would like to have more students. Definitely in New York you’re a small fish in a big pond.

And there’s the second installment of my interview with Katherine Siochi! See the first part posted here. Be sure to go check out her Instagram!

Don’t forget to peruse the Guest Posts & Interviews category of the blog!

-Barbara

*Fischarper interviews may be edited for accuracy (spelling, punctuation, etc.), sentence flow (primarily verbal interviews), & space.
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Praised by the New York Times as “excellent,” Katherine Siochi is an award-winning harp soloist and newly appointed principal harpist of the Sarasota Orchestra. Ms. Siochi began her musical studies with the piano when she was 5 years old, and began learning the harp at age 9. She holds her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in harp performance from The Juilliard School, where she studied with NY Philharmonic principal harpist Nancy Allen. While earning her master’s at Juilliard, Katherine was a recipient of the distinguished Kovner Fellowship. 
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Barbara Fischer runs Fischarper, LLC and loves her job as a harpist and private music educator. She enjoys blogging about various aspects of the music field on fischarper.com/blog. For more music resources, check out the Fischarper store. You can connect with Barbara all over the interwebs on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. And you can sign up to receive Fischarper updates by joining the email list.
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From the archives…Leather Harp Pin DIY

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