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So Bernie Madoff is sentenced to 150 years in jail for operating a Ponzi scheme which lost thousands of investors over $60 billion. 150 years. Wow. That’s a long time.

Thinking forwards - Chances are most of us won’t be around to see Bernie released from jail. That won’t be until 2159. Will there be live concerts? How will people even listen to music? Maybe humans will have chips implanted into their brains that contain 5,000 gigs of music.

Thinking backwards - 150 years ago Brahms, Wagner and Liszt were the hot ticket items. Brahms was smitten by the classicists Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn, Liszt was Liszt (prompting quite a few faintings during his concerts) and Wagner was expanding musical harmony and transforming opera into high drama.

Perhaps in our lifetime, some Wagneresque figure will take it upon his or herself to write an opera about Bernie Madoff. I’d imagine there would be a mob scene, a jail scene and that a tenor would sing the role of Madoff, what do you think? Is there a character in opera or the movies that best parallels Madoff’s exploits or fate?

Stonewall Inn

Nadia Sirota, WNYC Overnight Music Host

In many ways, my generation, born a solid decade or so post-Stonewall, has had a rather easy go of it in regards to gay rights; gay and lesbian public figures are plentiful, and one risks almost nothing in coming out to colleagues or friends save hearty congratulations and an excuse for partying. Even so, now’s an odd moment in the gay rights narrative in that there are certain civil rights issues that remain bizarrely unresolved (see: marriage).

It’s my impression that the Classical Music community, and in fact the music world in general, has always played host to non-straight composers, performers, and listeners, often when society as a whole felt otherwise. When trying to assemble the rep for this week’s Stonewall commemorative show, my colleagues and I kept on coming back to the idea that it would be way more challenging to assemble a cohesive show from the works of exclusively straight composers (a straight composer friend of mine has even toyed with the idea of publicizing his “conventional” sexual orientation as a PR hook. I’ll let you know how it works out). Obviously I’m kidding. Basically.

BUT! All this is meant to convey: there’s nothing novel about gay composers. We heart gay composers, always have. Evening Music’s HOMOPHONIC festival is a celebration of some wonderful pieces, wonderful composers, and the pivotal, news-worthy moment in the history of gay civil rights we are participating in, all of it greatly indebted to the Stonewall riots of 40 years ago.

We’ve got some great stuff planned for this weekend. The composer Nico Muhly will be joining me on Thursday; on Friday, Pauline Oliveros will sit in with David Garland, and on Sunday, Gretchen Phillips and Kenny Mellman (Herb, of Kiki and Herb) will be here. If you have any thoughts about pride, Stonewall, or the post-Stonwall world, let me know!

As Father’s Day approaches, I’ll include music in this week’s program that is devoted to fatherhood. I recently came across a piece by Charles Ives called “The Things Our Fathers Loved” and it got me thinking about my father and the things he loves. I haven’t lived with my parents for over 25 years, so my childhood memories of them are the most vivid. I can remember my father with 2-4 books at the kitchen table, reading well before dawn. He’d even bring his books to my high school basketball games, along with another love of his - a brown paper bag full of unsalted peanuts that he would roast at home. My father also liked fixing things, and his tool of choice was duct tape. Lots and lots of duct tape. So here’s my father’s list:

1. books, especially on theology
2. unsalted roasted peanuts
3. duct tape

Tell me three things your father loves or loved.

Growing up in my neighborhood, taking piano lessons was something that girls did. My older sister took piano lessons and every week I’d walk with her to those lessons. When I started taking piano at age nine, I would often hide my books under my jacket so as not to get teased by my friends who were typically outside playing sports when I was inside taking lessons. I bring this up because of an article I read in today’s New York Times that talks about a young Palestinian girl and the harassment she encounters while pursuing music studies.

I’m wondering if you have ever gone through a similar experience in which you’ve had to buck cultural biases, peer pressure or even established family values in order to pursue an interest, passion or relationship.

On another note, here’s a highlight from our recent broadcast in the Greene Space. You can see more short films from Paola, Dafnis Prieto, Ezequiel Vinao and Yungchen Lhamo here.

Paola Prestini’s “Spell” live from the Greene Space

Greene Space

Tonight I’ll be hosting my second live broadcast from our swanky and sparkling Jerome L. Greene performance space. My guests will include four composers that are here at WNYC commissioned as part of a vast, station-wide New Americans project meant to shine a spotlight on foreign-born composer-musicians flavoring our American and New York City-sound with their distinct soundes and spices: Paolo Prestini from Italy and Mexico, Dafnis Prieto from Cuba, Ezequiel Vinao from Argentina and Yungchen Lhamo from Tibet.

You can hear these commissions online (complete with an exclusive video for Paola’s piece) and watch the entire broadcast live in high-definition streaming video right here as part of the Greene Space’s own website.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about tonight and this year’s entire array of festivals.

WNYC’s 69th annual American Music Festival kicked off tonight at 7pm with a live in-studio broadcast and webcast by the innovative, genre-bending Grizzly Bear, hosted by David Garland.

During the performance, WNYC’s Otis Hart and NPR’s Frannie Kelley moderated an online chatroom, which you can check out below.

Also, if you’re not familiar with the band, check out the Grizzly Bear archive on NPR.org for some background information and listening.

WNYC’s American Music Festival begins this week, and this year we’re paying special attention to composers whose music blends a variety of influences found in our culture. At the conclusion of the festival, we’ll feature a live performance by four foreign born American composers who have become part of the WNYC family and whose music is helping to define our American sound.

When thinking about the “American Sound” (as diverse as it may be) how would you sum up attributes of that sound in three words or less?