Nicolás Lell Benavides is a Nuevomexicano who now lives and works in California and, like Chuaqui and Frank, has a creative identity that comprises many layers.  

“It has been forever interesting,” Benavides says, when asked about his family’s history. “They had one foot in Latin America and one foot in the U.S.,” he adds. His family history includes many fascinating elements. His grandfather, as a teenager, hitchhiked to Oakland, California, saying “good riddance” to Albuquerque (only to return later) and was drafted into the Korean War. His grandfather epitomized the loose-fitting zoot suits, the unique Spanglish dialect of the Pachuco culture, and the music and steps of the Mambo, Rumba and Cha Cha dance styles.

There was a lot of music in his family’s household when he was growing up. With an accordionist in the home, Benavides heard traditional corridos and rancheras, along with jazz and funk, folk and pop songs. He was in a progressive rock band but in high school, he could not differentiate Mozart from Beethoven. The transforming experience came in his senior year of high school when he heard the Albuquerque Youth Symphony perform Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. 

Recuerdos: Orchestra of St. Luke's plays Benavides

Friday, February 24, 10 am

The closing piece of St. Luke's concert in 2022 was Nicolas Lell Benavides' Recyclate, a piece inspired by Hovor II, which is a 15-foot by 15-foot “tapestry” created by El Anatsui, a Ghanian artist living in Nigeria. El Anatsui is particularly intrigued by recycled materials, and this monumental work served as a basis for Recyclate. 

Librettist Marella Martin Koch and I were featured in an article in East Bay Magazine about our newest opera, “Dolores”, commissioned through West Edge Opera.

“At the grand old age of 33, Nicolas Lell Benavides seemed the most capable of the Frank Academy graduates. His “El Correcaminos” (“The Roadrunner”) explored his New Mexican heritage. The second movement, excitingly performed by the Calder Quartet, was inspired by the Mexican (and Spanish) settlers. Beginning with slapping the instruments, the accumulating rhythms became a gritty Spanish-tinged dance played on the strings.”

“West Edge Opera has commissioned composer Nicolas Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch to write “Dolores,” an opera about the labor organizer and activist Dolores Huerta.

The piece is scheduled for a premiere in 2023…”

• Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

“After four rounds of review, MassOpera and OperaHub are pleased to announce the New Opera Workshop selected work: Caravana de mujeres, a comedic opera by Laura Barati, librettist, and Nicolas Lell Benavides, composer.”

The eight projects selected for this pilot program were chosen by a diverse group of curators from a pool of 35 Bay Area based applicants. The curators who selected the final projects were Sahba Aminikia, Vân-Ánh Vo, Alejandro T. Acierto, Marshall Trammell, and Sarah Cahill.

Selected artists will receive support from innova for both the production and promotion of their music at no cost. In addition, artists maintain ownership of their work and receive 100% of sales profits. We are excited to work in partnership with these artists to bring their projects to fruition.

“Caravana de Mujeres” was selected after four rounds of review from among 95 works sent into the New Opera Workshop after it opened its door for submissions in June 2020. Now the New Opera Workshop will provide the team of “Caravan de Mujeres” with the necessary resources to build it opera from the ground up.

“With a new series, BSO’s Lucia Lin insists: ‘Classical music is not Eurocentric’”

Q. You said you looked at the composers after you chose them and realized they were diverse. In picking musicians to duet with, did you consciously try to break stereotypes for certain instruments?

A. Two of the composers chose percussion, and I thought OK, when people think of percussion, they usually think of a white male. Then someone mentioned Maria [Finkelmeier], and I was really impressed by what she’s done, so I approached her, and she said she would come onboard. Charles Overton also breaks the barriers of who people think a harp player is. It made me think of [former BSO principal harpist] Ann Hobson Pilot, when she started learning the harp and someone said to her, “There are no Black harpists.”

It’s been really an interesting journey, creating this project. In the beginning I just wanted to have these duos written. Then I decided, you know, part of the reason people are afraid of new music is they don’t understand it. What happens if people get to know the composers a little bit? That’s when I added the interview aspect. Nick Benavides spoke about the issues at the border; a lot of his work is inspired by issues he sees in the Southwest. Talking to Nicky Sohn, she once wrote a piece with an American jazz theme, and someone came up to her and said “Oh, I can really hear the Asian-ness in your piece.” [Laughs] Amazing, right?

“NOW’s latest project — Pepito, an animated short about the love at first sight between a dog and his future owner — was a collaborative effort from start to finish. Composer Nicolas Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch wrote the piece on commission for Washington National Opera (part of the 2018–2019 American Opera Initiative). Then, Benavides and NOW Executive Director and Co-Founder Emily Thebaut talked about the possibility of a production.”

“Recently, we were introduced to Pepito, an animated dog opera, and found it to be entrancing, touching and inspiring. Since we’re opera fans as well as rescue advocates, it especially hit home with us, so we were curious to find out how it came about. We reached out to the co-founder of the New Opera West company, Emily Thebaut, who gladly shared its origin story with us. We are sure that you will find both the opera and its message of what it means to be “the right dog” resonating with you, too. Bravo!

—Claudia Kawczynska”

The 2021 season marks the beginning of "Common Ground", a three-year initiative that will unveil six new pieces that tell stories of life in America.

The initiative begins this summer with "On Trac |<", a dance piece composed by Nicolas Lell Benavides and choreographed and performed by Amanda Castro, that looks at the intersection of human and machine in rural America, the release said.

This season is also the beginning of Common Ground, a three-year initiative that will unveil six new pieces that tell stories of life in America. It will begin this summer with On Trac|<, a dance piece composed by Nicolas Lell Benavides and choreographed and performed by Amanda Castro, that looks at the intersection of human and machine in rural America.

Music of Remembrance will receive a $20,000 Art Works grant to support the commission of “Tres Minutos,” a new chamber opera by composer Nicolas Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch.

Dolores selected as finalist for West Edge Opera’s Snapshot. https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/music/west-edge-opera-names-8-finalists-for-crowdsourced-commissioning-project

Welcome to SFCV’s year-end roundup of recordings released in 2020 by local artists — our first roundup for the Los Angeles area. Every year we’re amazed at the musical riches from the cultural scenes we cover, and this year more so than ever. Despite the strictures of the lockdown, artists managed to create a lot of brand-new music and find creative ways to record it, while many organizations scoured their archives for great, unreleased music that deserved a fresh listen.

Early in the process, Saltzman, along with the three mentors, matched the singers with commissioned composers, building on the recital programs that were taking shape. Riley’s recital is bookended by two new pieces from L.A. composer Nicolas Lell Benavides (Oct. 2). Birchell debuts a song cycle by Michael Welsh (Oct. 10). And on the program for Metzler: a premiere from pianists Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff (Oct. 16). That’s in addition to music by Samuel Barber, Alexander Zemlinsky, William Grant Still, Jake Heggie, and more.