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

Opening the door to a crack addict on a freezing winter's night leads to a dizzying series of events and the most chilling questions about charity, humanity, and the soul in S. Peña Young's controversial short story inspired by the author's life experiences with the Tampa Urban Project. Excerpt: "What are you doing in this part of town, Elma?" "Jus'ta meet some friends." Why ask? Sure, friends. Nice friends with nice powders and needles and rocks. Real nice friends who will kill you for a bag of the good stuff. Friends. Kind of how I'm your friend, your supplier, but not drugs, just food, and a ride or two. I'm a supplier, too.  Download Cocoon to your Kindle or Computer Free Today: http://www.amazon.com/Cocoon-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B006ZLF2T2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1348578883&sr=8-5&keywords=sabrina+pena+young I wrote Cocoon in 2001 after working with the Tampa Urban Project, an inner city ministry coordinate

I've been working for the last year and half on my first full-length opera Libertaria: The Virtual Opera . Writing an opera has been challenging, and as I am finally putting the final notes of the opera on paper (or more like MIDI), I thought I would share a few thoughts I have had along the way that may help other aspiring opera composers. After all the, form seems antiquated and sometimes struggling in the days of cute YouTube videos of singing kittens (oh, so cute!). So here are some humble thoughts about opera, inspiration, and the motivation to create something great. Motivation What was the motivation behind Libertaria ? I had always wanted to compose an opera, and I have always wanted to create a feature-length film. Libertaria is the marriage of these two incredibly ambitious dreams. To be honest, my motivation was simple. When I was teaching at Murray State University , one of my talented students, an emerging composer named Alan Manning (remember that name) wrote