Sabrina Peña Young
Sabrina Peña Young is an American composer and percussionist. Young grew up in South Florida, the daughter of Dominican and Cuban parents. She spent her formative years performing in various orchestras, alternative bands, and avant-garde esembles. While at the University of South Florida in 2000, Young became involved with SYCOM (Systems Complex for the Recording and Performing Arts). In 2015 Young published her debut novel "Libertaria: Genesis" as an addendum to her online work "Libertaria:The Virtual Opera". Her multimedia works have been performed at the Beijing Conservatory, the International Computer Music Conference, Project Greenlight, the  Athena Festival, the New York International Independent Film Festival, Art Basel Miami, Turkey's Cinema for Peace, and Pulsefield International Exhibition of Sound Art. Young is a member of the New York Women Composer’s Association, the International Alliance for Women in Music, and the Buffalo Movie and Video Makers. In 2022 Young joined the Board of the International Alliance for Women in Music. Film and media. Young has been in forty feature film and short film productions as composer, director, writer, or crew. In 2005 Young's "World Order #2" was premiered at Gürşat Özdamar's "Cinema for Peace  in Turkey, where 100 filmmakers presented 100 short films on Peace". World Order #2 was the second in a series of new media and musical works about war and its effects on society. A strong advocate for women composers, Young curated the 2011 and 2012 Athena 60x60 Mix with Vox Novus director Robert Voisey. The 60x60 Athena mix contains 60 one-minute works form 60 different female composers. Her video for the 2011 60x60 Athena mix to creates a multimedia performance containing 60 one-minute audio works from women composers accompanied with video. Young's work "Creation" won the New  Genre Prize from the 2011 International Alliance for Women in Music Search for New Music. In 2013 Young released "Libertaria: The Virtual Opera", a 55-minute machinima movie with original script, soundtrack and animated visuals all created by Young herself. The title "Virtual Opera" refers to the fact that there were no real-world rehearsals and the cast contributed their recordings from around the world via the internet. The movie can be viewed online, and there is an accompanying soundtrack recording and novelisation available. "Libertaria:The Virtual Opera" was screened at New York City's Opera America in 2015. The  score of "Libertaria:The Virtual Opera" is a combination of traditional musical theater/opera, electroacoustic music, and jazz. Critics have called the production "groundbreaking" and "Wagner 2.0." The opera cast included Joe Cameron, Perry R. Cook, Gracia Gillund, Jennifer Hermansky, Matthew Meadows, Kate Sikora, Gretchen Suarez-Pena and Yvette Teel. Young presented a TEDx Talk at TedxBuffalo in 2014 in Buffalo, New York on "Singing geneticists and EPIC cyberspace machinima operas." In 2014 Young presented "Libertaria" at the Women Composers Festival at Hartford, speaking on virtual opera production and internet collaboration. and the WNY Women in Arts Festival in Buffalo , New York. In 2015 Young produced the music documentary "The Opera Heard Round the World: Internet Collaboration and the 21st Century Composer". Young produced films like "Welcome to Space Force" and "The Cure", which premiered in Buffalo, New York in 2018. "Welcome to Space Force" premiered at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. Young directed her film students in the film "Noel's Spaceship" which premiered at the Buffalo International Film Festival in 2019. In 2019, Young's animated short film "Spiritus" had its world premiere at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. That year the festival also presented Young  with the Lois Weber Award which recognizes the accomplishments of women who have distinguished themselves in the art of filmmaking. Film scores. Sabrina Pena Young wrote the film scores for Little Green People, Spiritus, Monica, Not Another Monster Movie, The Present and the Passed, Murder Zone, and Americana. Music works. Percussion works. Young composed "Fluidity" for marimba and video, "Folds of the Mind" for mixed chamber ensemble and percussion, "Agape" for marimba quartet in 2001, and "Cancion" for marimba in 1999. The Heartland Marimba Quartet presented music by American composers including Sabrina Pena Young's work Agape March 9, 2017 . Other instrumental works. Young composed "Fate Laughs at Me" for bassoon, "Danza de la Muerta: Gebroken Clown" for string orchestra, "Downward Spiral" for Strings, "Airborn Sand" for flute solo, "Asphixivision" for string quartet, "A Glass of Water Lights the World" for solo cello in 2003, and "Horizon" for full orchestra in 2001. Vocal works. Young composed the multimedia choral work "The Creation Oratorio" in 2010, and wrote "Light" for soprano and piano in 2012. Young's "Libertaria Song Cycle" was premiered at the third New Music Miami Festival concert, featuring the music of FIU alumni February 6, 2019. Young's  Libertaria Song Cycle was published as part of the Cintas Foundation "Sonidos Cubanos 2" Cuban music anthology in 2021. Electroacoustic works. "Enigma" and "Innermost Thoughts of the Distorted Psyche"' (2004) use complex computer-generated soundscapes and moving visual abstraction. "US vs Them" (2006), was written for the Kansas State University Percussion Ensemble. The Millikin University Percussion Ensemble premiered Young's work "virelaan" for percussion ensemble and multimedia at the Albert Taylor Theater in 2008 for their Special Annual Halloween Concert. In 2008 Young released her debut electroacoustic album "Origins". Sabrina Pena Young's works "Creation" for percussion ensemble, women's  choir and mixed media and her work "Virelaan" percussion ensemble and mixed media were premiered by the Millikin Chamber Percussion Ensemble in 2009. American Recall was inspired by an actual automated voicemail from a prominent grocery chain about maggots found in Similac baby formula. "American Recall" (2009) is a short and snarky commentary on consumerism (tape). "American Recall" was part of the 2014 New Horizons Festival at the TSU Art Gallery, curated by Robert Martin. Looking Glass (2009) was part of the first annual Soundcrawl Nashville event. Young's album “A Futuristic Music Anthology: The Electroacoustic Mind of Sabrina Peña  Young” came out in 2014. In 2016 Young's "Martian Morning Edition" arranged an electroacoustic version of the NPR Morning Edition music theme. NPR interviewed Young on her process, "You hear the original soundtrack but backwards, almost like some sort of bizarre echo from a different universe or something that's just trying to get through." Writing. Sabrina Peña Young writes mainly about music instruction, practice and activism but also writes fiction, poetry and children's books. Awards. 2011 Sabrina Peña Young received a New Genre Award from the International Alliance for Women in Music for her work "Creation. Young 's animated science fiction opera short feature "Libertaria: The Virtual Opera" was nominated for Best Animation and Best Short Feature at the 2016 Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. Buffalo Movie and Video Makers awarded Sabrina Peña Young’s short film "Murder Zone" first place in their annual March film competition and also awarded her the Distinguished Member award for 2017 for high achieving filmmakers.</ref> Young’s short films "Murder Zone" and "The Pearl of Tia Maria Magdalena" were Official Selections for the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival 2017. "Welcome to Space Force" was an official selection for the 2018  Buffalo Dreams and Fantastic Film Festival and nominated for "Best Western New York short." In 2018 Young won Honorable Mention for Best Original Score Award for Director Grace McAlister's "The Present and the Passed" for the Independent Shorts Awards. In 2018, Young was awarded Cintas Foundation Brandon Fradd Fellowship in Music Composition for "a distinguished award for composers of Cuban descent." Young's animated film "Spiritus" was the Official Selection at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival and had its world premiere in 2019. "Spiritus" was nominated for Outstanding Animated Short at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. Young  produced "The Cure" which was an Official Selection of the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival in 2019. Young directed the student film "Noel's Spaceship," which premiered at the Buffalo International Film Festival in 2019. Young was the Winner of the Lois Weber Filmmaker Award, presented at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. The award is named in honor of Lois Weber (1879 – 1939), the first female film director in the United States, and recognizes the accomplishes of women who have distinguished themselves in the art of filmmaking.