Lisa DeSpain, New York, N.Y. :: will develop her first opera The Hell-Bound Train thanks to the 2018 OPERA America Discovery Grant for Female Composers. Train depicts how a petty thief and drifter named Martin makes a deal with “The Conductor” for perfect happiness and immorality. The music draws on Delta Blues, jazz and folk while the opera is filled with train lore and hobo culture. She is a music professor at LaGuardia Community College — City University of New York and choral arranger for Broadway educational publications, such as Hamilton. Her notable works include the oratorio American Carols and Rise & Fall, String Quartet No. 1. Her favorite UNT memory is “jam sessions in Bruce Hall.”