From sugar beets to sweet notes: 'Rising star' Cecilia Violetta López takes the stage in Opera Southwest's 'Madama Butterfly'

When Cecilia Violetta López was working in Idaho’s sugar beet fields, her mother taught her mariachi songs to help the time go by.

The soprano wasn’t exposed to opera until she attended college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and saw “La bohème” for the first time.

From sugar beets to sweet notes: 'Rising star' Cecilia Violetta López takes the stage in Opera Southwest's 'Madama Butterfly'

“I was hooked,” said López, who is an Albuquerque resident. “I got the opera bug.”

López will star in the Opera Southwest production of “Madama Butterfly” at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Sunday, Oct. 27, Wednesday, Oct. 30, Friday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 3.

Regularly listed among the top 10 operas performed worldwide, “Madama Butterfly” tells the tragic tale of a geisha’s love, steadfastness and heartbreak set to Giacomo Puccini’s soaring score.

Named one of opera’s “25 Rising Stars” by Opera News, López sang the role for Opera San José just a month after graduating with a vocal performance degree.

She hopes “to be as honest as I can to the score,” she said. “Puccini is so precise.”

The first time she sang the role, she was in the middle of losing the custody of her son.

“It really pulled at my heartstrings,” she said. “Now to be able to sing the role again, healed, I find it digging into the vulnerability on stage.”

Puccini’s poignant score follows the heartbreaking story of Cio-Cio-San, a young Japanese girl who falls in love with American naval officer Pinkerton, with devastating consequences.

Cio-Cio-San bears Pinkerton’s son and waits for the day he returns to her.

“She’s in love; she’s the positive Polly,” López said. “She’s waiting for the day when her sailor comes back.

“Maybe she’s blinded by love,” López continued. “Pinkerton was her first and only love. She was 15 when she married him.”

Named one of “Idaho’s Top 10 Most Influential Women of the Century” by USA Today, López was always singing from the time she pulled beets beneath the blistering Idaho sun with her mother.

“She gave us these melodies to work harder,” López said. “She never wanted that for us. It was in that field that my mom instilled that love of music.”

When López told her parents she wanted to sing a type of music they had never heard, they were supportive.

She most recently sang the role of Micaëla in “Carmen” last season.

López has received accolades for her signature role of Violetta in “La traviata,” which she has performed countless times throughout North America. She has also performed the role with Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, Opera Tampa, Opera Idaho, Ash Lawn Opera, The Northern Lights Music Festival, Madison Opera, Pacific Symphony and Virginia Opera. She made her European debut as Norina in “Don Pasquale” with Zomeropera in Belgium.

Tenor Hak Soo Kim will sing the role of Pinkerton. An apprentice of Plácido Domingo at the Los Angeles Opera, he has performed in some of the nation’s most notable venues.

Opera Southwest is celebrating 52 years as Albuquerque’s professional opera company.