COMPOSER SABRINA PENA YOUNG | MUSIC TECHNOLOGY | FILM | CLASSICAL | OPERA

Women Composers Festival of Hartford - Composer-in-Residence The Women Composers Festival of Hartford is now accepting submissions from potential Composers-in-Residence for 2018 and future years. The Composer-in-Residence will have her music showcased on the Festival, will give talks and masterclasses to area schools, participate in other outreach and publicity activities, compose a new work to be premiered at the Festival, and more. Visit  http://womencomposersfestivalhartford.com/calls/  to access the online submission form. Applications will be accepted year-round but only those received by 5/15/17 will be considered for 2018. Web site:  http://womencomposersfestivalhartford.com/calls/

Tragedy befalls us at every turn. A look at the news this week and the tragic school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary demonstrates that life is precious, fleeting, in a moment gone from your arms. But it seems that as a society we are befalling a string of personal tragedies, economic and personal, temporary and forever.  This morning I reflect on life, on death, on tragedy, on pain. I work on a Christmas gift for a child that was born premature and lived all but a few minutes in his young parents' arms. This week we receive news that a grandmother is in hospice. This morning one of my parents is in the hospital, a thousand miles away.  Life, does it need to be so tragic? We are spoonfed a million images daily that insist that we need to be happy, that things and beauty and money will bring us happiness. Could it be that the natural human condition is struggle? Could it be that happiness is only one facet of an ever complex reality, existence. Our society insists that e...