Host Michael Wolch caught up with Valerie Milot to discuss her new Analekta CD entilted Orbis.

Valerie Milot is a harp player that dances to her own beat. Yes, she has performed and recorded the classics: Handel, Saite, Debussy, Ravel and more, but she also likes to get adventurous. In the past she has recorded a CD dedicated entirely to Simon & Garfunkel; another that features modern composers R Murray Schaefer and Paul Hindemith; and on her newest CD, Orbis, she stretches the boundaries to include John Cage, British prog rock group Gentle Giant and even Frank Zappa.

She enjoys breaking the barriers that have been set for too long by using her instrument in unexpected ways and by collaborating with various other instruments. As her passion has no bounds, she has toured many times on the international scene, in Geneva (Switzerland), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and in France for instance. She has also participated in numerous music festivals such as the Festival de Lanaudière and the Festival International du Domaine Forget.

When Valérie doesn’t have her fingers on her harp, they are put to good use in her garden, found in cookie-dough or busy petting her cats that share the spotlight on her blog in which she amusingly demystifies her daily life as a harpist.

I spoke to Valerie last week at her Mom's home in Quebec (her quiet space for work) and asked her how she first came to play the harp: