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

As you know I am working like a crazy woman trying to finish up Libertaria: The Virtual Opera this summer. Like any overly ambitious project by someone that clearly has no concept about her human limits, I am down to the wire, dispensing with sleep, spending hours upon hours editing tiny frames that will pass by your eye in less than a second, and wondering why in the world did I decide over two years ago that I wanted to make a film AND I wanted to make an opera...and that my hair-brained solution as a fairly new mom at the time was to go for it and make a feature-length animated opera.  CHECK OUT THE LATEST ANIMATION PROGRESS AT MOVIESTORM Working in Moviestorm The process has been amazing. I've collaborated with people that I have never met (the entire production has been done online through the Internet, Skype and social networking). I've gone through the proverbial struggles that any large scale creative endeavor has encountered from cast emergencies, technica...

As you may or may not know, I started to attend a writer's group here in Buffalo, New York. Part of my reason for going was to acquaint myself with fellow artists in the area, part of my reason was to learn better writing skills as I take Libertaria and transform the screenplay into a fully fleshed out novel.  I enjoy sitting with other creative individuals, all of us diverse in our talents, writing, and beliefs. We discuss so many intriguing topics. Last night was no different. We enjoyed a touching story about the love between an old woman an her maimed dog. It may sound like a trite story, but the words written by the young writer enveloped us in its beautiful imagery, the loneliness of the woman hung in the air and we each held on to each word, mentally cheering for the three-legged beast and its equally crippled master. Our discussions always teeter on the brink between the mundane and the sublime, the philosophical and the carnal, the emotional and the syntax. ...

Pray for Gray You always get those e-mails about kids getting cancer, but usually it happens to some random friend of a friend's cousin's sister's boyfriend's brother, and it's not someone that's close to the family. The Hand family has been my husband's second family all of his life. Nate Hand was the best man at our wedding, practically a blood brother to my husband (coincidentally ALSO named Nathan), and Pat Hand was a father figure to my hubby growing up.  SUPPORT PRAY FOR GRAY AT FACEBOOK After what they thought was just a flu, Nate and Lauren Hand found out that their precious 3-yr-old Grayson has leukemia. It's only been weeks, but Gray has gone through intense chemo and already started losing his hair. In solidarity, family and friends started going Bald for Gray  and started a Facebook page called Pray for Gray that already has over 1000 followers and is growing. Going Bald for Gray (Seated in front w/white t-shirt) The costs e...

Libertaria: The Virtual Opera My incredible music fans at Reverbnation, Twitter, and Facebook, have kept my music at #1 in Electronica in Buffalo, New York! Reverbnation is a great place for music fans to keep track of the latest on Libertaria - my current electronic opera project premiering in October. Find out the latest about upcoming concerts and screenings, download free music, and ask me questions about Libertaria, and more at Reverbnation!  BECOME A MUSIC FAN AT REVERBNATION I have been adding a few sneak peaks of Libertaria online, including the recent addition of Symphony of Shadows from Libertaria, this months' FREE GIVEAWAY! Symphony of Shadows combines electronica with a haunting piano melody in a dramatic film soundtrack. Haunting and sentimental, at once sad and hopeful, Symphony of Shadows is a fitting beginning to Libertaria: The Virtual Opera. I hope that you enjoy this month's FREE GIVEAWAY! It's my way of saying THANK YOU for supporting Liber...

THE STORY BEHIND LIBERTARIA In 2011 I started writing a story about a young geneticist that worked in a cutting edge facility that absorbed the energy from the ill and dying to make a new serum that rejuvenated the younger, healthy populace. In the short story, the scientist, orphaned at a young age, discovered that one of her test subjects was actually her mother. The short story evolved over time and instead of focusing on the scientists, the young girl was placed in the genetics factory herself, escaping it to discover her addict father runs the resistance against the factory. With a hundred twists and turns, Libertaria tells the story with true operatic drama and sci-fi energy. Drones Destroy the Eastern United States in Libertaria Production for Libertaria was entirely online. The cast auditioned virtually through Music Xray and other sites, the animators worked together using a machinima program called Moviestorm , communication continued through e-mail a...