About

Nicolás Lell Benavides’ music has been praised for being “resourceful and wonderfully eclectic” (Joshua Kosman, On a Pacific Aisle) and “dramatically tight and musically transporting” (SF Chronicle). He was a 2024-25 Guggenheim Fellow and has received commissions from groups like The New York Philharmonic/The Juilliard School, the LA Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel, The San Francisco Girls Chorus, Eighth Blackbird, New Century Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Hope, SFCM Orchestra with Edwin Outwater, West Edge Opera, Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Music of Remembrance, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, SOLI Chamber Ensemble with mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, Fry Street Quartet, Friction Quartet, Brightwork newmusic, and Khemia Ensemble. His music has received support from organizations such as the American Composers Forum, The Barlow Endowment, New Music USA, Opera America, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He was most recently the 2025-26 Composer-in-Residence with the Grammy winning San Francisco Girls Chorus, and also a 2025-26 visiting artist as part of Santa Clara University’s Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts.

Notable premieres include ¡AGUAS! for Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil with filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu; Querencia with the New York Philharmonic and The Juilliard School Pre-College program, with support from the American Composers Forum; a new song cycle with the LA Phil based on Neruda’s poetry (Sueño en mi sueño) for oboist Anne Marie Gabriele and tenor Joshua Blue (commissioned by Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting); and an opera about Dolores Huerta (libretto Marella Martin Koch), commissioned by West Edge Opera, San Diego Opera, The BroadStage, and Opera Southwest. He was a fellow at the Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, where he was part of the Composing Earth initiative. Nicolás was the first ever Young Artist Composer in Residence at The Glimmerglass Festival and has been a fellow at the Del Mar International Composers Symposium. He was the first featured composer/conductor with the San Diego Symphony’s Currents Series in the new Jacobs Center. His first opera, Pepito, was commissioned by Washington National Opera, with libretto by Marella Martin Koch. He and Marella also premiered a new opera, Tres minutos, with Music of Remembrance in 2022 with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

His debut album Canto Caló (Aerocade Records) with Friction Quartet and mezzo-soprano Melinda Martinez Becker was praised for being “concise, witty and heartfelt… Canto Caló is deeply moving” by I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. Fanfare Magazine wrote “Benavides writes with superb confidence, managing to invoke place and culture while maintaining his own sonic signature… A fascinating introduction to the significant voice of Nicolás Lell Benavides.”

Upcoming projects include a new commission for ~Nois Quartet, a new song cycle for GRAMMY winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, and the premiere of his Barlow Foundation commission for Eighth Blackbird. In 2026 he will be a composer-in-residence at the Chamber Music Conference, where he will premiere a new work for End of Time Quartet. In the 2026-27 season he will be composer-in-residence with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at UC Santa Barbara. In 2026 Fry Street Quartet releases a documentary and music video of Lek, a commission for string quartet and electronics about the Greater Sage Grouse in Utah. He is also developing an opera called Caravana de mujeres with librettist Laura Barati as part of MassOpera’s New Opera Workshop, which was a featured performance at Opera America’s New Works Forum.

Nicolás has studied at Santa Clara University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.

Name note: In written materials I prefer my full name (Nicolás Lell Benavides).
IPA pronunciation: /nikoˈlas lel βenaˈvidez/ (Ni-co-LAS Lell Ben-ah-VEE-des)

pronouns: he/him/his

Shorter

(200 words)

Praised for being "dramatically tight and musically transporting" (SF Chronicle) as well as “resourceful and wonderfully eclectic” (Joshua Kosman), composer Nicolás Lell Benavides has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic/The Juilliard School, Eighth Blackbird, New Century Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Hope, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, West Edge Opera, Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Music of Remembrance, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Fry Street Quartet, Friction Quartet, ~Nois, and Khemia Ensemble. A 2024 Guggenheim Fellow, his music has been supported by the American Composers Forum, The Barlow Endowment, New Music USA, Opera America, and the NEA.

Leading the 2025–26 season is the world premiere of his opera Dolores (libretto Marella Martin Koch), presented by West Edge Opera, San Diego Opera, The Broad Stage, and Opera Southwest. The season also includes a new work for the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel (The Great Wall of Los Angeles, alongside a film by Alejandro G. Iñárritu), a new work for Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor and SOLI Chamber Ensemble, Composer-in-Residence with the San Francisco Girls Chorus, a residency at Santa Clara University supported by the Sinatra Chair of the Performing Arts, and the release of Canto Caló on Aerocade Records.

Permission note: Bio may be used without alterations. If you would like a shorter version please message me as I have a variety of approved lengths. Headshots (below) may be used with photographer credit.

Headshots (credit Samantha Godoy)

Management

(For new commissions, performance inquiries, grand rights negotiations, curatorial opportunities, or appearances)

Owen Summers, Summers Artist Services owen@summersartistservices.com

Other

Use the form here or write me: NicolasBComposer @ [gmail] . [com]