His return to campus for the Sinatra Series marks a full-circle moment of performing and teaching at the place where he began his classical music journey.

“The composer’s concise, witty and heartfelt debut album pays homage to his home state and his grandparents, who also called New Mexico their home… Canto Caló is deeply moving, and the love and attention Benavides and his collaborators have for New Mexico and its people is irresistible.”

• Sofía Rocha

“Nicolás Lell 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.”

Colin Clarke

This article originally appeared in Issue 49:5 (May/June 2026) of Fanfare Magazine.

Nicolás Lell Benavides’s ¡AGUAS! responded to the Zoot Suit Riots with powerful brass writing and rhythmic surges occupying the space between dance and danger. In a clever moment of orchestration, what began as the tight wooden pulse of claves unfolded into a melodic line on the xylophone. The music’s intensity seemed to echo the violent history depicted in the mural.

• Charles Burns, SFCV

“In ¡AGUAS!, Nicolás Lell Benavides takes aim at the Zoot Suit Riots that heavily impacted young Latinos, especially Mexican Americans. Mambo was the music of choice for many of the men who were targeted, and Lell Benavides uses the style’s fast-paced rhythms and brass vibrato as the foundation for the piece. The opening drum solo gives way to an even more varied line up of percussion, from whistles to ratchets to cowbells while the concertmaster engages in a call and response with the rest of the strings.”

Dalanie Harris, ICIYL

By Mia Casas

Sunday, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller declared October 26 Nicolás Lell Benavides Day. It was at the New Mexico premier of the composer’s new opera Dolores, about his cousin, Dolores Huerta.

Now Benavides has released an album titled Canto Caló. It’s a two part work in Spanish and accompanied by a four string quartet that he calls a love letter to New Mexico and his heritage. He spoke with KUNM’s Mia Casas.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —

The life and legacy of civil-rights icon Dolores Huerta takes the stage in a new opera. “Dolores” focuses on 1968 – a pivotal moment in Huerta’s fight for labor rights, and during a charged part of American history.

Albuquerque-born composer Nicolás Lell Benavides had the idea to share Huerta’s story since childhood.

“The idea first sparked when I was talking to Dolores. She’s my cousin,” Benavides said. “When I was a kid, we were at a family reunion and she was telling us stories and mostly about 1968.”

Benavides described Huerta’s recounts of the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the movements for labor and civil rights.

The opera premiered in Albuquerque at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, which borders Avenida Dolores Huerta.

By Mark Tiarks

Writing an opera about your 95-year-old second cousin twice removed doesn’t exactly sound like the way to have a hit on your hands, even in your hometown.

For his first full-length opera, Albuquerque native Nicolás Lell Benavides chose to do just that, and his Dolores is Opera Southwest’s next production, with performances at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on October 26, 29, and 31, and November 2.

In Dolores, Benavides does have a bit of an advantage over an opera you or I might write about one of our venerable relatives. His cousin is Dolores Huerta, the New Mexico-born labor leader and social justice champion who played a critical role in leading California’s agricultural workers during a multi-year strike against grape growers in the late 1960s.

By Michael Hodock

In October, the National Hispanic Cultural Center will be honoring the life of Dolores Huerta with an opera simply and appropriately titled Dolores. Composer Nicolás Lell Benavides, who was born in Albuquerque and grew up in the Los Ranchos area, wrote the music for the opera and came up with the original idea, but librettist Marella Martin Koch put his complex, multi-genre music to words. Together, they have created unforgettable songs to honor one of the nations most important activists, and you can experience it live right at the intersection of Avenida Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —

Decades after Dolores Huerta helped transform the labor movement, her fight for justice is once again in the spotlight – this time, under stage lights.

Opera Southwest’s newest production, simply titled “Dolores,” brings the life and work of the civil rights icon to an Albuquerque stage – weaving protest, family, loss and hope into music.

“This opera tells the life of Dolores Huerta, the Latin American activist,” said stage director Octavio Cárdenas.

The show follows Huerta’s journey from New Mexico to California, where she became one of the most influential labor organizers in U.S. history.

“She has done so much for the Hispanic community,” said Soprano Kelly Guerra, who plays Huerta. “She is one of the most powerful people I have ever met.”

BY LOGAN ROYCE BEITMEN JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

When the opera “Dolores,” about labor organizer Dolores Huerta, premiered in Oakland, California, this August, the San Francisco Chronicle called it “triumphant,” “musically transporting” and “undeniably timely.”

Opera Southwest (OSW) is now bringing the opera to New Mexico, Huerta’s home state, with four performances at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, beginning Sunday, Oct. 26.

“In the past few years, I have come back to telling stories about the American Southwest that I don’t see on the major concert stages from LA to New York,” Nicolás Lell Benavides, the opera’s composer, said. “There are other composers who explore Latinidad in their music, and they should always be lauded and praised, but I am so proud to be part of that movement of finding stories in the American Southwest that are worth telling.”

Huerta co-founded the first major farmworkers’ union in the United States, the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers union.

By Logan Beitman

Nicolás Lell Benavides is an award-winning classical music composer and 2024-2025 Guggenheim Fellow. His new opera, “Dolores,” which is based on the life of activist Dolores Huerta, will have its New Mexico premiere at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Sunday, Oct. 26. In this episode, he speaks with Logan about his musical journey, his personal connection to Dolores Huerta and how music can inspire and communicate across cultural divides. If you enjoy our podcasts, please like and subscribe, and consider becoming a digital subscriber to the Albuquerque Journal, to help us continue to bring you more content like this. Follow the like below for a discount on a digital subscription. http://www.abqjournal.com/subscribe/a...

Dolores, composed by Nicolás Lell Benavides with a libretto by Marella Martin Koch, The opera focuses on Chicano Civil Rights activist Dolores Huerta, her work with the United Farm Workers during the Delano Grape Strike, and her advocacy to get Robert F. Kennedy elected. Source: https://www.operasouthwest.org/operas

ALBUQUERQUE — In collaboration with Opera Southwest, the National Hispanic Cultural Center is proud to present an opera based on the remarkable life of labor icon and New Mexico native Dolores Huerta. Dolores takes the stage starting Sunday, Oct. 26. 

“This play goes to the core of our pride as New Mexicans and gente, Dolores is an icon for standing together with all people demanding dignity and access to justice,” said National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) Executive Director Zack Quintero. “This production also showcases New Mexicans at its center, as the writer, the inspiration, and director all hail from the Land of Enchantment. The NHCC has been and will continue to be a home for shared celebration of our culture and history.” 

This week on GJ, we speak with composer Nicolás Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch about the dedication that went into creating Southwest Opera: Dolores. An opera adaptation of Dolores Huerta’s life in 1968.

Nicolás Lell Benavides is a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow and has received commissions from West Edge Opera/San Diego Opera/Opera Southwest/BroadStage (Dolores), Music of Remembrance, The Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, The New York Philharmonic/The Juilliard School, the LA Phil with Gustavo Dudamel, Eighth Blackbird, New Century Chamber Orchestra, and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music with support from the likes of the Barlow Endowment, Opera America, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Marella Martin Koch is a librettist, playwright, and lyricist whose work explores agency and its absence. Her trio of operas with composer Nicolás Lell Benavides includes Pepito, Tres minutos, and Dolores. Recognized by Operawire for her “lean and well-trimmed” storytelling “full of nuance and emotional pull,” her theatrical writing has been produced in over one-fourth of the United States. When she is not writing, she enjoys working with high school, college, and graduate students in New York City and across the country.

By Mia Casas

Dolores Huerta is a Chicana activist icon from New Mexico. Her influence in the 1960s farm worker strikes created waves across the country and ultimately led to the creation of the National Farm Workers Association. Her story is not unheard of, but a young composer from New Mexico has brought this slice of time to life with a contemporary opera piece.

Nicolás Benavides is originally from Los Ranchos in Albuquerque and has collected a variety of music degrees from schools across California. He spoke with KUNM about the creation of his newest opera.

By Melissa Torres (video+article)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Coming this fall to the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the legacy of labor leader Dolores Huerta brought to life on stage. This revolutionary opera closely follows how Huerta shaped the farm workers’ movement of the mid-twentieth century. “This is a truly American story about American heroism, and I will continue to say that because it’s true,” emphasized composer of Dolores, Nicolás Benavides.

By Joshua Kosman

““The strongest argument in favor of Dolores’ catchall approach, though, is Benavides’ resourceful and wonderfully eclectic score, skillfully conducted by Mary Chun. Wherever the story turns, Benavides stands ready to infuse it with just the musical expression it needs. When Chavez (bass-baritone Phillip Lopez) endangers his own life by embarking on a hunger strike to further the union cause, he gets a vivid leitmotif associated with personal sacrifice. The hard-bitten Itliong (baritone Rolfe Dauz) declaims in short, punchy bursts of tough-guy dialogue; Nixon (tenor Sam Faustine) sings a glib, slightly nauseating waltz. There are mariachi strains and potent choruses, a sweetly ingratiating duet for Dolores and Ethel Kennedy (soprano Chelsea Hollow) in which they bond over the tribulations of motherhood, and a sudden burst of horrifying noise in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination.”