Lisa DeSpain

Lisa DeSpain is an award-winning jazz composer for opera and musical theatre. She is recipient of a 2018 OPERA America Discovery Grant, a 2020 National Endowment of the Arts Challenge America Award and the 2020 Zepick Modern Opera Commission. Her operatic works include That Hell-Bound Train, a jazz/blues “deal with the devil” story, Staggerwing (Opera Kansas), about the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race, and No Ladies In the Lady's Book (Utah Opera). Her musical theatre works include Storyville, an original musical based on the final days of New Orleans’ red-light district with Oscar Award-winning lyricist Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Like I Care!, a musical for middle school performers addressing issues of internet pressures and bullying.

Lisa DeSpain is a Professor of Music at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York as well as clinician teaching masterclasses in composing for the musical theatre/opera stage.