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

Melina: A Steampunk Musical Tragedy Melina is a steampunk musical tragedy. A story of love, loss and the fact that as much as we would like to, we can't change the past. Set in a fictional steampunk setting, Melina is Shakespeare meets Greek Tragedy sprinkled with a fun dose of Jules Verne! Help take this production to the next level by funding the demo album that will be sent to festivals and competitions and make this musical a staple of the community theatre, university theatre and high school theatre scene! SUPPORT NOW THROUGH KICKSTARTER Synopsis: In the fictional steampunk town of New Comen, Jacob is the highly esteemed heir to the "throne" who is in love with a lower-class girl named Mara. Mara, is an aspiring vocalist that has gained the favor of the town despite her status. Their love is one of fairy tales until Melina enters the scene. Melina sweetly wins Jacob's attention and he ends up falling for her and leaving Mara. Mara is heartbroken...

How to Write an Opera Libretto in 5 Steps - Composer Secrets “WAGNER 2.0” – The Palm Beach Arts Paper Young is the foremost expert on virtual opera production and online collaboration with the debut of her machinima opera Libertaria: The Virtual Opera. Libertaria includes a live international cast and film crew, virtual choirs, sound synthesis, machinima animation, and contemporary choral writing, produced entirely online using crowdsourcing, social networking, and the Internet. Libertaria premiered October 5th, 2013 in Lake Worth, Florida, with additional screenings at the Buffalo Women and Arts Festival, the UK-site Moviestorm, the Holland Animation Film Festival, and other venues. Young is a sought-after lecturer and writer on music technology, social media, online collaboration, marketing, and contemporary music. More great tips with Composer Boot Camp: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DMUO4G0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 DOWNLOAD THE OPERA LOVER'S...

How to Write an Opera in 5 Steps - Sabrina Pena Young Find a Great Dramatic Story - You need a strong story to write a compelling opera. Fortunately you can easily borrow from thousands of public domain works and modernize them. Think of West Side Story (just a contemporary version of Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet). Many great operas use Shakespeare, the Brothers Grimm, and Biblical stories, all of which include interesting characters, strong themes, and action. It's all about the Libretto: Before you start your opera, you need a libretto. The libretto is the storyline, lyrics, and dramatic direction of your opera. Think of it as a screenplay or script, but for music. If you are not a writer, like I happen to be, then I highly recommend that you pair up with a poet or seasoned librettist. This partnership will ensure that your opera combines the best talents of both artists. The last thing you want to hear is that the music was great but that the story, well, st...

International Alliance for Women in Music Board Member Nominations IAWM has openings for the 2019-2021 board!   We're looking for enthusiastic members who are passionate about building awareness of women’s participation and contributions to musical life. We have a new  website , some new awards and are excited about our future! We’re holding our annual election to engage additional members to help us grow IAWM and advocate for women in music! TIMETABLE: We are accepting nominations through  August 15,2018 . Feel free to either self-nominate or nominate someone else you believe would be a great addition to our board. Nominees must be IAWM members. By  August 30, 2018 , nominees should send us a ONE-page resume and a statement of 200 words or less telling us why you’d like to participate on IAWM’s board.  On  September 1, 2018 , we’ll send out an on-line voting poll for all members to participate. Polling will close Septembe...

Composer Jennifer Higdon Awarded Opera America Award for First Chamber Opera "Ashes" OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce the latest recipients of Commissioning Grants from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, made possible through the generosity of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Opera Grants for Female Composers promote the development of works by women, and raise the visibility of women writing for the operatic medium. The program consists of two granting components: Discovery Grants of up to $15,000 that are awarded directly to female composers to advance new works; and Commissioning Grants of up to $50,000 that are awarded to opera companies for commissions by female composers. Since its inception, the program has awarded a total of $898,000 to opera companies and composers. Find out more about Opera America here:  https://www.operaamerica.or...

How does a composer write music? Samuel Andreyev answers a viewer's question on how composers go about writing music.

The Phantom of the Opera - Prague Cello Quartet

“Fake news” may be a term that’s only recently made its way into the zeitgeist, but the vocal world has been full of half-truths and straight-up myths for quite a while. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/5-myt... Founder of the nonprofit music school Molly’s Music, music blogger, and vocal teacher Molly Webb debunks five myths that have been propagated in the vocal world and shares why they’re false, giving you practice advice that is backed by vocal research and will help you achieve your singing goals. Because vocal instruction was going on long before researchers had the ability to look at what was going on anatomically, not everything passed down from teacher to teacher over the years has been accurate. As a result, vocalists have been particularly susceptible to misconceptions and fear mongering about vocal health.

Filmmaker, composer and author Sabrina Pena Young takes us on a fascinating journey while narrating through her past, present and future projects along with some insight into her process and an exclusive sneak peak at her next science fiction machinima opera 'Spiritus'.

DEC 28th Big Words I Know By Heart - Special Guest Composer and Filmmaker Sabrina Pena Young Author, composer & TED talker Sabrina Pena Young (Libertaria: The Virtual Opera) joins us in the studio. Lovable scamp and compulsive commenter Terry Kimmel circles back to the Co Host Hot Seat for some fresh insults. DEC 28th 6L45-8:30pm EST Click on this Link to Find out More about Big Words I Know By Heart

Animated martial arts scene from Libertaria: The Virtual Opera. It’s the year 2139, and United States, decimated by nuclear war in the last half of the 21st century has splintered off into territorial factions. The sky has grown red, the water runs black, and hope rests on the shoulders of a young teen. Meet Libertaria, of unknown origin and unknown place. Left as an infant in the abandoned Lady Liberty Souvenir Shop in the year 2125, she spent her early years bouncing within the Factory. Aided by a woman known only as Nurse, Libertaria escapes Factory at the age of 14, traveling the bullet train from Nueva York, the capitol of the USSA, to New Miami in search of the one person that ever showed her kindness. A mysterious glowing medallion leads her to the Underground, a society of children led by the seemingly immortal Simeon. Hunted by the Apothetae Army Police, Simeon and his closest allies, Miguel, Lucy, and Gabe, attempt to protect the innocent and helpless from the Co...

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. How do you stage an opera without an opera company, or singers, or a stage, or anything, really, except your own ideas? Sabrina Peña Young and many enthusiastic opera fans put together their own full opera production using crowdsourced performances and machinima: computer-generated 3-D graphics. It's how most operas might be done in the near future. Produced by Justin Bondi Productions ( http://justinbondiproductions.com ) Sabrina Peña Young composes award-winning experimental works, which have been presented at the Beijing Conservatory, the International Computer Music Conference, Miramax’s Project Greenlight, the Athena Festival, the New York International Independent Film Festival, Art Basil Miami, Turkey’s Cinema for Peace, El Instituto Cubana de la Musica, Pulsefield International Exhibition of Sound Art and countless arts events. Young is currently curating the 60X60 Latin M...

Women Composer YouTube Database Project Looking for Female Composers and Songwriters The Women Composer YouTube Database is a project designed to make the works of prominent women in music known to a broader base by creating long playlists of works by select female composers and songwritings in classical music, electronica, and film. This is a project begun by award-winning composer Sabrina Pena Young.   The hope is that as more and more of these Youtube Playlists of women composers are made available, the playlists will be shared and other musicians will take the time to create more female composer playlists. This project was begun in August 2017. The goal is to eventually have 100 + separate playlists highlighting the works of 100+ female composers.   If you are interested in having a playlist made of your work or a prominent female composer as part of this project, please contact Sabrina Pena Young directly through her facebook page: https://www.facebook.co...

Music and drama critic Terry Teachout recently wrote his first libretto; the opera became a hit. What would he advise others attempting this daunting form?

Composer Philip Glass on his latest collaboration with Christopher Hampton and Music Theatre Wales, an opera adaptation of Franz Kafka's black comedy, The Trial.  Find out more at  http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/the... The Trial is Philip Glass's second 'pocket' opera based on the writings of Franz Kafka, and his first work created specifically for Music Theatre Wales, in celebration of the company's 25th birthday. Glass has a long relationship with the company, describing them as 'wonderful to work with… they seem to like these "odd" pieces of mine, and they do them very well. I think of my pocket operas as neutron bombs – small, but packing a terrific punch'. Glass has won worldwide acclaim for his operas, which include Satyagraha and Einstein on the Beach. Music Theatre Wales gave a sell-out tour in 2010 of Glass's previous Kafka opera, In the Penal Colony, a work of blistering intensity and dark claustrophobia. Playwright and ...

Writing His First Opera

As part of Inside Opera: Live, composer Errollyn Wallen and baritone Dawid Kimberg were challenged to create an aria from scratch in 4 hours with suggestions of text from Twitter. Watch how the process unravelled and listen to the final performance. 

Operas are often tragedies, so they should be written with the rules of Greek tragedy in mind. Write an opera by working with a composer with tips from a playwright in this free video on writing lessons and tips.

Create Virtual Auditions Online with Music Xray for Libertaria the Virtual Opera In cyberspace, one person reaches out to tens of thousands of others with a tap on an iPad. The potential talent pool for any project explodes exponentially online. Creative individuals use sites like Kickstarter, MusicXray, Wreckamovie.com and the Amazon Turk to reach out to countless numbers of potential skilled musicians and artists. Wreckamovie, a crowdsourcing website for film and music productions, makes international collaboration easy for productions like the recent Free Will: Opera by You , premiered at the Savonlinna Opera Festival this summer. The Amazon Turk, run by Amazon.com, allows a person to assign hundreds of microtasks at pennies apiece. A composer can sign up as Music Industry Professional at MusicXray and easily set up virtual auditions that reach tens of thousands of musicians. These sites are simply a handful of the incredible networking tools available today. ...

Using Technology to Create the Virtual Opera Libertaria Creating a full‐length opera in the 21 st century requires a composer’s ingenuity and ability to think outside the box and into cyberspace. What do crowdsourcing, machinima, virtual auditions, social networking, and a libretto have in common? Each is a key element in the production of Libertaria: The Virtual Opera , a feature‐ length sci‐fi animated opera created through online collaboration and cutting edge technology. For those who live outside the 21 st century digital world, terms like crowdsourcing, virtual, and machinima may seem like a foreign language out of a Ray Bradbury sci‐fi novel. Crowdsourcing involves assigning tasks for your project to the public at‐large. More than simply outsourced, a project that is crowdsourced can involve dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people contributing a small part to the creative whole. Typically one person acts as the “brain” of the project, co...