"me" is not optional in that case, because interesar is a reflexive verb and it requires a reflexive pronoun: me interesa, te interesa, le interesa, etc.. "a mi" is optional as it has been already mentioned. It is really very common to use "a mi" in that case, even if it is redundant. A real situation in which "a mi" has a real meaning would be the following: a group of people is talking about what they are interested in. Let's say that one of them is interested in music and the others are saying that they are not interested in it. In that case this person would say "a mi (sí) me interesa la música".. It's like "I DO have interest in music".