Tres minutos (2022)

Watch Sept 15-Oct 15 for only $15!

Synopsis: 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.

Drama. 45 minutes.

Cast:
Diego… Mexican-American, baritone, 25, a call center employee in Mexico City
Nila… Mexican-American, soprano, 22, Diego’s sister, a college student in El Paso
Michael… Tenor, 30s, a U.S. Border Patrol agent at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Voices: Soprano, Tenor, Baritone

Instrumentation:
Clarinet in Bb
Piano
Violin
Viola
Violoncello
Contrabass

Tres minutos was commissioned by Music of Remembrance (Mina Miller, founder and artistic director) and made possible by a generous award from the Clovis Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

FIRST PERFORMANCES: May 15, 2022 at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA, and May 22, 2022 at the Presidio Theatre, San Francisco, CA.

https://www.musicofremembrance.org/work/tres-minutos

Creative team:

Nicolás Lell Benavides’ music has been praised for finding “…a way to sketch complete characters in swift sure lines…” (Anne Midgette, Washington Post) and cooking up a “jaunty score [with] touches of cabaret, musical theater and Latin dance.” (Tim Smith, OPERA NEWS). He has worked with groups such as the Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, New Opera West, West Edge Opera, Nashville Opera, Shreveport Opera, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Friction Quartet, Khemia Ensemble, and Nomad Session. He was a fellow at the Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. 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 premiered a new opera for Washington National Opera called Pepito with librettist Marella Martin Koch. Nicolás and Marella were selected as the recipient of West Edge Opera’s Aperture commission to develop an evening length opera about civil rights icon Dolores Huerta. He is also developing an opera with librettist Laura Barati as part of MassOpera’s New Opera Workshop. Other notable projects include a new dance piece called On Trac|< for The Glimmerglass Festival in collaboration with dancer Amanda Castro, Little Cloud for Khemia Ensemble, a new string quartet for Fry Street Quartet, and a new orchestra work for Gabriela Lena Frank’s Composing Earth initiative with support from New Music USA.

www.nicolasbenavides.com

Marella Martin Koch is a librettist and director originally from Los Angeles. In addition to Tres minutos, she wrote the 20-minute opera Pepito with composer Nicolas Lell Benavides for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. Since its Kennedy Center premiere, Pepito has been performed across the country, recorded as a cast album “full of nuance and emotional pull” (Chris Ruel, Operawire), and released by New Opera West as an “entrancing” animated short film (Claudia Kawczynska, The Bark). Her and Nicolas’ upcoming full-length opera Dolores won the inaugural West Edge Opera Aperture Commission. Other notable credits as librettist include Ten Minutes in the Life or Death of… (music by Tyler J. Rubin), lauded as “quizzical and wonderstruck” (Steven Winn, SF Classical Voice) at West Edge Opera’s Snapshot 2021; and Elinor & Marianne (music by Aferdian), an original concept album inspired by Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility produced by The Rally Cat with support from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, City Council, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Currently based in NYC, she teaches theatre and writing to middle school, high school, undergraduate, and graduate students and is developing a full-length play called Friend Animals with Midnight Oil Collective. With over a decade of experience in non-profit arts administration and production, she founded and leads the multidisciplinary opera/theatre company The Rally Cat.

MFA, NYU/Tisch. BA, UC Berkeley.

www.marellamartinkoch.com

Dramaturg Hector Vega is a Deputy Public Defender for the city of San Francisco for the Immigration Defense Unit. His practice focuses on clients detained by ICE seeking relief from removal. He represents clients before the Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, Federal District Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to working for the Public Defender’s Office, he worked in private practice representing immigrants seeking relief from removal. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from Stetson University in Gulfport, Florida in 2013. Throughout law school, he volunteered for non-profit organizations in immigration law and civil litigation. His work included assisting victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes obtain lawful status in the United States.

Premiere cast:

Diego
José Rubio

Nila
Vanessa Isiguen

Michael
Brendan Tuohy

Clarinet
Laura DeLuca

Piano
Jessica Choe

Violin
Mikhail Shmidt

Viola
Susan Gulkis Assadi

Cello
Walter Gray

Contrabass
Jonathan Green

Conductor
Nicolas Lell Benavides

Director
Erich Parce

Lighting Design (Presidio Theatre)
Patty Ann Farrell

Media Designer
Peter Compton

Production and Stage Manager
Jesse Parce

Opera, Film, DiscographyNicolás BenavidesSeptember 15, 2022Opera