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

In the Digital Age, a composer is just as likely to write a work for the local university as he or she is commissioned by an ensemble in Australia.  From using notation software programs like Sibelius and Finale to using crowdsourcing and virtual Skype rehearsals, the classical composer today has dozens of tricks up their sleeves. The shrinking of our world has forced many composers to develop tech skills that were not necessary 20 years ago.  Many composers are familiar with the concept of a click track. Most commonly associated with live acoustic recording of soundtracks or recording studio sessions, the classical composer today may have to use a click track to help musicians thousands of miles away to stay in sync for a project. Complex multimedia projects involving live musicians, film scores, and cross-internet recordings.  The Logic Score is Helpful But Not Always Accurate For my current project, Libertaria: The Virtual Opera , I have a cast of a ...

Feel like writing an opera is only for big name composers with big budgets? Or are you willing to take the plunge and create a work in one of the most compelling and cutting edge musical forms...an opera? Almost two years ago I embarked on the largest musical production I have created to date -  Libertaria: The Virtual Opera. After writing the award-winning Creation Oratorio and dozens of multimedia works, I wanted to combine my love of the audio and the visual into a single large scale work.  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.   Libertaria borrows heavily from messianic sto...

Modern Opera Libertaria Movie Poster The modern opera Libertaria: The Virtual Opera is currently in the animation production phase after over a year in music production. The opera cast members, including the diverse talents of Matthew Meadows, Kate Sikora, Perry Cook , and Gretchen Suarez-Peña are wrapping up the final numbers for  Libertaria .  For those interested in listening and supporting this innovative sci-fi modern opera, you can download a free copy of the Libertaria Instrumental Album at Bandcamp. Join the almost ten thousand visitors who have checked out free digital copies of opera scores and sketches at Scribd:  http://www.scribd.com/3rdmillennium As part of the exciting launch of Libertaria in 2013, I am writing the full sci-fi novel version of the screenplay to be released through Amazon Kindle. This exciting movie companion book for the animated modern opera will give an inside look into the exciting world of Libertaria . Covering the back sto...

Sheet Music (Photo credit: jayneandd ) Awhile ago I decided that I would upload the bulk of my music scores and sheet music to sites like Scribd, the Petrucci Music Library , and Archive.org for free sheet music downloads. Some musicians told me that it was ridiculous to give away my music. The truth is that I don't depend on music publishing sales of my scores, and I would rather inspire a young piano student, percussion ensemble, opera singer, grandma, bored music student, or music teacher to play and study my music than hold on tight to my copyrights and let my music scores collect virtual dust on my hard drive.  The Petrucci Library, Scribd, and Archive.org all have dozens of free music scores available for choir, vocal solos, piano, percussion, orchestra, opera, multimedia works, and more. You can see a short list of available free sheet music by checking out the Scores page. You might want to check out scores to my modern opera Libertaria: The Virtual Opera , an ex...

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 ...