Nicolás Lell Benavides

Originally from New Mexico, composer Nicolás Lell Benavides frequently explores the intersection of place and cultural themes of Latinidad in the Southwest through his music. He has been commissioned by groups such as The New York Philharmonic/The Juilliard School, Eighth Blackbird/The Barlow Endowment, New Century Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Hope, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music/SFCM Orchestra, West Edge Opera, Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Music of Remembrance, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Fry Street Quartet, Friction Quartet, and Khemia Ensemble. Notable projects include ‘Lek’ for Fry Street Quartet, supported by the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music; ‘Tres minutos’ with librettist Marella Martin Koch, supported by Music of Remembrance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Clovis Foundation; and a new commission by West Edge Opera to develop an opera about civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, in collaboration with San Diego Opera, the BroadStage, and Opera Southwest. His upcoming album, ‘Canto Caló,’ will feature Friction Quartet and mezzo-soprano Melinda Martinez Becker, with support from Innova Records, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, and New Music USA. He serves as a lecturer of composition/music theory and analysis at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music