Program To Include

Nicolás Lell Benavides

New work (World Premiere, New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with The Juilliard School Preparatory Division and American Composers Forum)

Andrés Soto

New work (World Premiere, New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with The Juilliard School Preparatory Division and American Composers Forum)

William Dawson

Selections from Negro Folk Symphony

MassOpera Party & New Opera Workshop

March 14, 2024 | VIP Reception @ 6 PM | Main Event @ 7 PM
Club Café | Moonshine Room | South End Boston
Featuring musical selections from Caravana de mujeres paired with an epic party only MassOpera can throw!

In the next phase of development of Caravana de mujeres, we present never before seen musical selections from this exciting and new romantic/comedic opera and throw in an epic bash to help raise funds for MassOpera’s artistic and educational programs.

FSQ at USU Series | FSQ in Recital

January 23, 2024 @ 7:30pm
Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall

Franz Josef Haydn | String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 76, no. 4, the “Sunrise”
Nicolás Lell Benavides | Lek for string quartet & electronics*
Ludwig van Beethoven | String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135

*Commissioned for the Fry Street Quartet by the NOVA Chamber Music Series and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music

Tres minutos

Saturday, January 6 at 7:30pm
Jacobs Music Center

Part of the Currents Series, Tres minutos is a chamber opera inspired by a real program that reunites families separated by immigration policies at the U.S.-Mexico Border, but only for three minutes.

Artists and repertoire

Music by Nicolás Lell Benavides
Libretto by Marella Martin Koch
Musicians of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra

Where do we belong? Inspired by a real program that reunites families separated by immigration policies at the U.S.-Mexico Border, but only for three minutes, Tres minutos by composer Nicolás Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch imagines the story of Diego and Nila, a brother and sister who share DNA but not citizenship. When Diego is deported, leaving Nila behind, questions of identity, duty and belonging threaten to consume them.

A co-production with Music of Remembrance.

USM presents music for guitar and strings from Latin America. Robert Lehman - violin, Kimberly Lehman - viola, Rebbaca Hartka - cello, Aaron Larget-Caplan - guitar
Composers: Manuel Ponce, Nicolás Lell Benavides, Astor Piazzolla
Time: 1pm
Location: Union Hall, 24 Central St, Rockport, ME 04856 • website

USM presents music for guitar and strings from Latin America. Robert Lehman - violin, Kimberly Lehman - viola, Rebbaca Hartka - cello, Aaron Larget-Caplan - guitar
Composers: Manuel Ponce, Nicolás Lell Benavides, Astor Piazzolla, Larget-Caplan
Time: 7:30pm
Location: Corthell Hall at the Osher School of Music at the University of Southern Maine
Website:

Left Coast at the California Festival:
California Voices
(features the two concerts below)

this is what it means: Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the San Francisco Girls Chorus | Nov 4 and 5, 2023

Nov 4, 7:30 pm at First Presbyterian church of berkeley

Nov 5, 4:00 PM at san francisco conservatory of music

Left Coast and the San Francisco Girls Chorus team up to present a program which centers the voices of Californian women composers at the California Festival. We interweave instrumental and vocal works by Pauline Oliveros, Gabriela Lena Frank, Reena Esmail, Gabriella Smith, Lisa Bielawa, and Ursula Kwong-Brown with the music of Nicolás Lell Benavides, Caroline Shaw, and Hildegard von Bingen. The two ensembles join forces to premiere a new work written for the occasion by Sarah Gibson.

This concert is generously sponsored by Susan Shalit and Mary Logger.

Journey into the beyond with Daniel Hope and New Century as they offer music for communing with spirits, whether connecting with those we’ve lost or outwitting death for another night! Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor and a haunting chorus of eight voices join our musicians in a candlelit, otherworldly setting to examine connections with the afterlife from many cultural angles, such as Paul Dukas’s playful tone poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez’s resplendent Misa Criolla. Composer Nicolás Lell Benavides premieres a new work commissioned by New Century, a piece for violin and strings that summons the spirit of Doña Sebastiana, Lady Death of the American Southwest.

Journey into the beyond with Daniel Hope and New Century as they offer music for communing with spirits, whether connecting with those we’ve lost or outwitting death for another night! Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor and a haunting chorus of eight voices join our musicians in a candlelit, otherworldly setting to examine connections with the afterlife from many cultural angles, such as Paul Dukas’s playful tone poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez’s resplendent Misa Criolla. Composer Nicolás Lell Benavides premieres a new work commissioned by New Century, a piece for violin and strings that summons the spirit of Doña Sebastiana, Lady Death of the American Southwest.

Left Coast at the California Festival:
California Voices
(features the two concerts below)

this is what it means: Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the San Francisco Girls Chorus | Nov 4 and 5, 2023

Nov 4, 7:30 pm at First Presbyterian church of berkeley

Nov 5, 4:00 PM at san francisco conservatory of music

Left Coast and the San Francisco Girls Chorus team up to present a program which centers the voices of Californian women composers at the California Festival. We interweave instrumental and vocal works by Pauline Oliveros, Gabriela Lena Frank, Reena Esmail, Gabriella Smith, Lisa Bielawa, and Ursula Kwong-Brown with the music of Nicolás Lell Benavides, Caroline Shaw, and Hildegard von Bingen. The two ensembles join forces to premiere a new work written for the occasion by Sarah Gibson.

This concert is generously sponsored by Susan Shalit and Mary Logger.

Journey into the beyond with Daniel Hope and New Century as they offer music for communing with spirits, whether connecting with those we’ve lost or outwitting death for another night! Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor and a haunting chorus of eight voices join our musicians in a candlelit, otherworldly setting to examine connections with the afterlife from many cultural angles, such as Paul Dukas’s playful tone poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez’s resplendent Misa Criolla. Composer Nicolás Lell Benavides premieres a new work commissioned by New Century, a piece for violin and strings that summons the spirit of Doña Sebastiana, Lady Death of the American Southwest.

The Ellsworth Community Music Institute presents music for guitar and strings from Latin America. Robert Lehman - violin, Kimberly Lehman - viola, Rebbaca Hartka - cello, Aaron Larget-Caplan - guitar
Composers: Manuel Ponce, Nicolás Lell Benavides, Astor Piazzolla
Time: 1-2pm
Location: Ellsworth Community Music Institute, 125 State St, Ellsworth, ME 04605 • (207) 664-9258
Website:www.ellsworthcommunitymusic.org/

Journey into the beyond with Daniel Hope and New Century as they offer music for communing with spirits, whether connecting with those we’ve lost or outwitting death for another night! Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor and a haunting chorus of eight voices join our musicians in a candlelit, otherworldly setting to examine connections with the afterlife from many cultural angles, such as Paul Dukas’s playful tone poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez’s resplendent Misa Criolla. Composer Nicolás Lell Benavides premieres a new work commissioned by New Century, a piece for violin and strings that summons the spirit of Doña Sebastiana, Lady Death of the American Southwest.

Melinda Martinez Becker and Friction Quartet perform Canto Caló for Hispanic Heritage Month

Three years into the Delano Grape Strike that brought the Chicano Civil Rights movement to the national stage, United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta saw an opportunity for coalition-building and change.

From March until June of 1968, she canvassed tirelessly for Senator Kennedy's presidential campaign, organizing rallies up and down the state of California. That future crumbled when Bobby was shot. Dolores is the untold story of rebirth in the wake of tragedy.

The composer is a cousin to Huerta and has spent time with her, learning her story.

FSCMF Program 3: Fry Street Quartet & Guest Artists

July 10, 2023

FRY STREET QUARTET
LOGAN CANYON WINDS
ANNE FRANCIS BAYLESS, Cello
REBECCA MCFAUL, Violin
JOHN T. POSADAS, Viola
ALEKSANDRA KASMAN LAUDE, Piano

Paul Taffanel | Wind Quintet in G Minor
Nicolas Benavides | Lek for String Quartet & Electronics
Rebecca Clarke | Sonata for Viola & Piano
Gayane Chebotaryan | Piano Trio

Description: Featuring the music of two masterful current-day composers, Caroline Shaw and Nicolás Lell Benavides, this concert is a exhibition of the modern art song. Beautifully presented by Friction Quartet and Mezzo-Soprano, Melinda Martinez Becker; join to hear the varied inspirations on display by both composers. Additionally inclucded on the program are two arrangements of the works of Gilberto Parra and Raymundo Perez y Soto by Melinda Martinez Becker. This program includes one premiere.

​

Featured Performers: Melinda Martinez Becker

Program: 

Caroline Shaw- Blueprint

Caroline Shaw - First Essay

Caroline Shaw - Can’t Voi L’aube

Caroline Shaw - Other Song 

Nicolás Lell Benavides - Canto Caló

Gilberto Parra - Por Un Amor, arr. Melinda Martinez Becker

Raymundo Pérez y Soto - La Cigarra, arr. Melinda Martinez Becker

Tres Minutos - Inspired by a real program that reunites families separated by immigration policies at the U.S. - Mexico Border, but only for three minutes, Tres minutos imagines the story of Diego and Nila, a brother and sister who share DNA but not citizenship. When Diego is deported, leaving Nila behind, questions of identity, duty, and belonging threaten to consume them.

La Muerte - Now in her seventies, Paula can sense the end is near. The visions of her deceased daughter Elisa and of the others (Karankawa Native Americans of long ago) are more frequent. Her family thinks it is dementia, but Paula is simply in conversation with Death.  She has seen La Llorona (Weeping Woman), been touched by the spirit of the great River, and knows La Muerte  well. The journey to the other world and to the daughter that La Llorona stole from her has at last begun. 

Conductor: Temirzhan Yerzhanov

Featured Singers:
Sergio Gonzalez - Tenor
Jessica Rodriguez Gonzalez - Mezzo Soprano
Deborah Rosengaus Martinez - Mezzo Soprano
Alejandra Sandoval - Soprano
Igor Vieira - Baritone
( in alphabetical order)

Tres Minutos - Inspired by a real program that reunites families separated by immigration policies at the U.S. - Mexico Border, but only for three minutes, Tres minutos imagines the story of Diego and Nila, a brother and sister who share DNA but not citizenship. When Diego is deported, leaving Nila behind, questions of identity, duty, and belonging threaten to consume them.

La Muerte - Now in her seventies, Paula can sense the end is near. The visions of her deceased daughter Elisa and of the others (Karankawa Native Americans of long ago) are more frequent. Her family thinks it is dementia, but Paula is simply in conversation with Death.  She has seen La Llorona (Weeping Woman), been touched by the spirit of the great River, and knows La Muerte  well. The journey to the other world and to the daughter that La Llorona stole from her has at last begun. 

Conductor: Temirzhan Yerzhanov

Featured Singers:
Sergio Gonzalez - Tenor
Jessica Rodriguez Gonzalez - Mezzo Soprano
Deborah Rosengaus Martinez - Mezzo Soprano
Alejandra Sandoval - Soprano
Igor Vieira - Baritone
( in alphabetical order)

Description: Featuring the music of two masterful current-day composers, Caroline Shaw and Nicolás Lell Benavides, this concert is a exhibition of the modern art song. Beautifully presented by Friction Quartet and Mezzo-Soprano, Melinda Martinez Becker; join to hear the varied inspirations on display by both composers. Additionally inclucded on the program are two arrangements of the works of Gilberto Parra and Raymundo Perez y Soto by Melinda Martinez Becker. This program includes one premiere.

​

Featured Performers: Melinda Martinez Becker

Program: 

Caroline Shaw- Blueprint

Caroline Shaw - First Essay

Caroline Shaw - Can’t Voi L’aube

Caroline Shaw - Other Song 

Nicolás Lell Benavides - Canto Caló

Gilberto Parra - Por Un Amor, arr. Melinda Martinez Becker

Raymundo Pérez y Soto - La Cigarra, arr. Melinda Martinez Becker

Description: Featuring the music of two masterful current-day composers, Caroline Shaw and Nicolás Lell Benavides, this concert is a exhibition of the modern art song. Beautifully presented by Friction Quartet and Mezzo-Soprano, Melinda Martinez Becker; join to hear the varied inspirations on display by both composers. Additionally inclucded on the program are two arrangements of the works of Gilberto Parra and Raymundo Perez y Soto by Melinda Martinez Becker. This program includes one premiere.

​

Featured Performers: Melinda Martinez Becker

Program: 

Caroline Shaw- Blueprint

Caroline Shaw - First Essay

Caroline Shaw - Can’t Voi L’aube

Caroline Shaw - Other Song 

Nicolás Lell Benavides - Canto Caló

Gilberto Parra - Por Un Amor, arr. Melinda Martinez Becker

Raymundo Pérez y Soto - La Cigarra, arr. Melinda Martinez Becker

Libby Gardner Series

music by Libby Larsen, Nicolas Lell Benavides, Laura Kaminsky, Roy Harris

Music makes the mundane magical!

Join the Utah Opera Resident Artists for a musical celebration of everyday events, featuring the short operas Pepito and Happy Birthday.

Tickets: $5 per person or $10 per family

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MA – The Tufts University Department of Music presents Tufts Composers at the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center on Wednesday, March 29th, 2023, at 7:00pm. L'Étoile Violin Duo- Hsin-Lin Tsai and Miguel Pérez-Espejo, violins- with guest artist guitarist Jérôme Mouffe present a recital of works for violin and guitar in various combinations, as part of a residency with the Tufts Composition Department. Music by Benavides, Falla, Piazzolla, Shostakovich, Telemann and Turina.

World premiere! A Classic Reimagined

A fresh take on Mozart and Da Ponte’s opera by Nicolas Lell Benavides and Kelley Rourke

Debating the nature of attraction and fidelity, events at a college party cause six college students to question everything they know about each other – and themselves. This English-language modernization of a Da Ponte and Mozartian classic will delight with a 1980s nostalgia and clever twist.

Including highlights from the original opera, this compact, contemporary take on Mozart's and Da Ponte's classic upends the battle of the sexes, exposing and examining all manner of gender stereotypes.

World premiere! A Classic Reimagined

A fresh take on Mozart and Da Ponte’s opera by Nicolas Lell Benavides and Kelley Rourke

Debating the nature of attraction and fidelity, events at a college party cause six college students to question everything they know about each other – and themselves. This English-language modernization of a Da Ponte and Mozartian classic will delight with a 1980s nostalgia and clever twist.

Including highlights from the original opera, this compact, contemporary take on Mozart's and Da Ponte's classic upends the battle of the sexes, exposing and examining all manner of gender stereotypes.

The students of the USU String Program present contemporary chamber music from an exciting new generation of emerging composers. This concert will include two world premieres by composer Jungyoon Wie and Dawn Norfleet, commissioned in partnership with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music as part of the CREA initiative (Composers for Racial Equality in the Arts).

This concert will be livestreamed on the CCA YouTube channel.

Nina Shekhar & Friends

Composer Nina Shekhar curates an evening of chamber music by and for Friends!

Performers include Brightwork Ensemble, Lyris Quartet, and Nina Shekhar playing music by Nicolás Lell Benavides, Akshaya Avril Tucker and Nina Shekhar with video interludes by Nina Shekhar.

World premiere! A Classic Reimagined

A fresh take on Mozart and Da Ponte’s opera by Nicolas Lell Benavides and Kelley Rourke

Debating the nature of attraction and fidelity, events at a college party cause six college students to question everything they know about each other – and themselves. This English-language modernization of a Da Ponte and Mozartian classic will delight with a 1980s nostalgia and clever twist.

Including highlights from the original opera, this compact, contemporary take on Mozart's and Da Ponte's classic upends the battle of the sexes, exposing and examining all manner of gender stereotypes.

World premiere! A Classic Reimagined

A fresh take on Mozart and Da Ponte’s opera by Nicolas Lell Benavides and Kelley Rourke

Debating the nature of attraction and fidelity, events at a college party cause six college students to question everything they know about each other – and themselves. This English-language modernization of a Da Ponte and Mozartian classic will delight with a 1980s nostalgia and clever twist.

Including highlights from the original opera, this compact, contemporary take on Mozart's and Da Ponte's classic upends the battle of the sexes, exposing and examining all manner of gender stereotypes.