Franziska Heusser

Alias Madame Ferus

Her strong and virtuoso playing on stage is based on her extensive musical education: Franziska Heusser studied classical flute as her first instrument and has taught the instrument for many years in Switzerland. From 1991 she studied saxophone with Marem Aliev. Later she took up the Macedonian bagpipe called the Gaida, which she studied with Anne Hildyard, and the double-reed instrument called the Zurna. She specialises in Eastern European, Turkish and Arab musical styles.

Franziska Heusser is one of the very few female musicians to have mastered these male-dominated Eastern gypsy styles. At the famous French festival of St. Chartier, Macedonian musicians christened her "Madame Ferus", named after the most famous Macedonian gypsy musician, King Ferus Mustafov.