Awards
2023 New Music USA; The Albany Garbage Wars: The Opera
2022 Rhinebeck Writer’s Residency; That Hellbound Train
2020 National Endowment for the Arts; That Hellbound Train
2020 Opera Kansas Zepick Modern Opera Commission; Staggerwing
2018 OPERA America - Discovery Grant; That Hellbound Train
2018 Barlow Commission; Symphonic Jazz Suite for Piano
2018 Utah Opera "Golden Spike" Commission; No Ladies in the Lady’s Book
2020 ASCAP/IAJE Commission Honoring the Duke Ellington Centennial
2003 Copland House Residency
2005 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow (Storyville, Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
2003 Barlow Endowment Rise & Fall, String Quartet No. 1
2000, 2004, 2007 American Composers Forum - Continental Harmony
Julius Hemphill Jazz Composers Award
About
“DeSpain’s opera is a graceful, elegantly crafted piece...a winning combination of a score that was a pleasure because of its modesty and direct communication.”
Lisa DeSpain is a New York City based, Utah-native composer of opera, musical theatre, and concert works known for her American sound.
She is the recipient of an OPERA America Discovery Award for Female Composers, a National Endowment for the Arts -Challenge America Award, and a Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat Residency in support of That Hellbound Train, libretto by David Simpatico. Based on a short story by Robert Bloch (Psycho,) That Hellbound Train is a “Deal with the Devil” opera with a score steeped in America’s unique musical heritage. Stephanie Rhodes Russell conducts the world premiere of, That Hellbound Train, April 2026 at University of North Texas.
Lisa is the winner of the 2020 Zepick Modern Opera Commission (Opera Kansas) for Staggerwing, a chamber opera about the historic win of female pilots Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes in the 1936 Bendix Trophy Air Race, libretto by Rachel J. Peters.
Additional operas with Rachel include No Ladies In The Lady’s Book, (Utah Opera) highlighting the lost stories of women who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad, and Men I’m Not Married To (Cleveland Opera Theatre) based on a short story by Dorothy Parker.
Song Of The Nightingale, libretto by Melisa Tien, co-commissioned by (On Site Opera) and Arts Brookfield is a modern fairy tale that explores the power of music to open our hearts. Lisa’s operas are available for licensing through ECS Publishing.
In the field of concert music, has been the recipient of the ASCAP Commission Honoring the Duke Ellington Centennial, multiple Barlow Awards, and was the first jazz musician awarded a Copland House Residency. Lisa has composed works for The United States Air Force Band of Flight, the Cassatt String Quartet, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Copland House, New York Choral Society, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, pianist Scott Holden, and the women’s choir Bella Voce.
Lisa collaborated with Memphis-born choreographer Donlin Foreman (Buglisi-Foreman Dance,) creating a tryptic of blues influenced dance score; Mean Ole' World, Rise & Fall , and Song with premieres at the New Victory Theatre (NYC), Joyce Theatre (NYC) and Jacobs Pillow.
A force in the musical theatre education world, Lisa is the go-to arranger for Broadway educational choral works including HAMILTON, FUNNY GIRL, IN THE HEIGHTS, ONCE, AMERICAN IDIOT, NEXT TO NORMAL and more.
She is a Professor of Music at LaGuardia Community College - CUNY, drinks copious amounts of coffee, can deadlift 210 lbs., and ran away with the circus…twice.
