Nicolás Lell Benavides’ (Ben-ah-VEE-des) 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, Music of Remembrance, New Opera West, West Edge Opera, Nashville 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. He and Marella also premiered a new opera, Tres minutos, with Music of Remembrance in 2022 with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts. 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 recent projects include a new dance piece called On Trac|< for The Glimmerglass Festival in collaboration with choreographer Amanda Castro, Little Cloud for Khemia Ensemble’s album Intersections, and Cuates for Lucia Lin and Shaw Pong Liu as part of the In Tandem series. Upcoming projects include a new co-commission for orchestra with the New York Philharmonic/The Juilliard School/The American Composers Forum, a new piece for violinist Daniel Hope with the New Century Chamber Orchestra as part of the California Festival, a new string quartet for Fry Street Quartet and the NOVA Chamber Music Series, a new album Canto Caló with mezzo-soprano Melinda Becker and Friction Quartet, and a new chamber orchestra work for Gabriela Lena Frank’s Composing Earth initiative for Edwin Outwater and the SFCM Orchestra with support from New Music USA.

Nicolás has studied at Santa Clara University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.

Name note: Though in written materials I prefer my full name (Nicolás Lell Benavides), my friends generally call me Nick.
IPA pronunciation: niːkəʊlɒs lɛl bɛnɑvidɛs (Ni-co-LAS Lell Ben-ah-VEE-des)

pronouns: he/him/his