About
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
ASCAP/IAJE Commission Honoring the Duke Ellington Centennial
American Composers Forum - Continental Harmony
NEA Jazz Fellowship (jazz piano)
Copland House Residency
Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow
Barlow Endowment
Julius Hemphill Jazz Composers Award
Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition - finalist
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, and an NEA-Challenge America Award in support of THAT HELLBOUND TRAIN, libretto by David Simpatico, her innovative “Deal with the Devil” story blending the boundaries of opera, musical theatre and jazz.
She is the winner of the 2020 Zepick Modern Opera Commission (Opera Kansas) for STAGGERWING, a chamber opera about the historic win of female pilots in the 1936 Bendix Trophy Air Race, libretto by Rachel J. Peters. SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE, commissioned by On Site Opera and Arts Brookfield with libretto by Melisa Tien, received its world premiere in September, 2023. A modern fairy tale (inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen story,) SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE explores the power of music to open our hearts.
Additional operas with librettist Rachel J. Peters 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 AM NOT MARRIED TO (Cleveland Opera Theatre) based on a short story by Dorothy Parker.
Commissioned by a wide range of ensembles, Lisa has composed works for The United States Air Force Band of Flight, the Cassatt String Quartet, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Copland House/Hendrick Hudson High School, 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 & Theatre at LaGuardia Community College - CUNY (City University of New York)
