FILM AND INTERMEDIA WORKS
In 2018 the Cintas Foundation awarded Young the prestigious Brandon Fradd Composer Fellowship for artists of Cuban descent. Young’s works have been performed throughout Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, and the Americas at venues like the Beijing Conservatory, Art Basil Miami, NPR Morning Edition, and Opera America in New York City.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“Filtered through the lens of surrealism and technology, my intermedia explorations simply expose my own personal experiences and issues relevant to contemporary society. The visuals are a hybrid of experimental animation and sound art, with characteristic music that I compose for each piece. I hope to envelop the viewer in this universe through evocative sound and visuals while leading them to question the world around them.”
Music Catalog Available at Sheet Music Plus
The Palm Beach Arts Paper calls Young “Wagner 2.0” for her “groundbreaking” intermedia opera Libertaria. Recognized internationally as an innovator, Young gave a TED Talk on technology and opera at TEDxBuffalo. She spoke at the Future of Music Symposium and showcased Libertaria at NYC’s Opera America. Art Basil Miami, the Beijing Conservatory, Art Miami, SEAMUS, ICMC, and venues in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas have presented her work. The daughter of Dominican and Cuban parents in 1980s South Florida, Young studied percussion as a child and experimented with MIDI on her parents’ PC. In 2000 she joined the University of South Florida SYCOM avant-garde. Young continued graduate studies in Music Technology at Florida International University, interning with Pauline Oliveros.
Peña Young composed over 200 works, with performances by the Florida Orchestra, Women in Music Columbus, Association of Dominican Classical Artists, Heartland Marimba Quartet, FIU New Music Ensemble, and Vox Feminae in Tel Aviv. The Creation Oratorio, composed in Swahili, Spanish, and English, and written for female choir, Afro-Cuban percussion and tape, won the IAWM New Genre Prize.
The American Music Center awarded Young a grant for World Order #5. Young received an IAWM grant for her documentary The Opera Heard Round the World and Urban Nights. Young authored The Feminine Musqiue: Multimedia and Women Today and Composer Boot Camp. She has written for Yahoo!, Percussive Notes, New Music Box, IAWM Music Journal, SEAMUS, and Panpipes. She composed for Emmy-Winning Rob Cabrera’s Monica and collaborated with Lee Scott on his interactive UK opera The Village. Recent projects include the Malletkat Suite Destiny: Eondwyr (commissioned by Kurt Gartner), film scores for The Present and the Passed and Spiritus, and a performance by the InterXchange Ensemble in Brazil.
IIn 2018 Young was awarded the prestigious Cintas Foundation Bradley Fradd Composer Fellowship, a distinguished award for composers of Cuban descent. The CINTAS Fellowships have given Cuban artists “the incentive to work, the hope of a viable future” by awarding fellowships in visual arts, architecture, and composition to notable artists of Cuban descent.
Young was the recipient of the 2019 Lois Weber Award 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. In 2021 the Cintas Foundation released Sonidos Cubanos 2 which included Young’s Libertaria Song Cycle.
SABRINA PEÑA YOUNG 