Small Town, Big Voice

How an opera singer from Rupert, Idaho, stepped onto the world stage.

BY LEX NELSON

When Cecilia Violetta López goes home to the small town of Rupert, Idaho, she doesn’t get to laze around and relax. Instead, her mother puts her to work behind the counter of her modest Mexican restaurant, Loncheria El Viente.

“Whenever I go home people are like, ‘You’re here on vacation, right?’ and I say, ‘No, no, no, I’m here to work,’” López said, laughing. “I’m there. It’s like riding a bike. You never forget how to go in there and help Mom make the chile relleno. Every day there’s a different special. There’s the grind, the hustle!”

In her life outside of Rupert, López is an internationally renowned soprano. She has performed with Opera Idaho, Opera San José in California, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Zomeropera in Belgium, among others. In 2017, a reviewer for The New York Times wrote that, “Her passionate performance was the beating heart of LoftOpera’s new production of a different ‘Otello.’” But in Idaho, López is much more than an opera star—she’s a small-town icon, an interim kitchen hand, and above all her immigrant parents’ daughter.

In a way, López’s story starts at Loncheria El Viente. The restaurant’s name is an homage to the little village in Mexico where her parents hail from, Colonia Viente de Noviembre, or “El Viente’’ for short. López’s parents lived there until 1975, when her father set off the U.S. to find work.

“He left my mom pregnant with my older brother in Mexico, because there was no means of providing for a family there. … He was with a group of men and they came into the states illegally and traveled all the way to Rupert, Idaho,” López said.

A local farmer found López’s father walking on the side of the road and offered him a job. In 1981, López’s mother and brother joined her father in Rupert, and López and her two younger siblings were born soon after. It wasn’t long before all six of them were hard at work.

In Idaho, López is much more than an opera star — she’s a small-town icon, an interim kitchen hand, and above all else her immigrant parents’ daughter.

“I hoed beets with my mom,” López remembered. “Farm work was what we did, and what the Mexican-American family community did back then. … We hoed beets and my older brother picked rocks. My dad still works [that way], he does manual labor fixing tractors for the harvest of the potatoes. It’s a regular Idaho life.”

López’s parents and older brother applied for Green Cards in 1987, and after they received them the family journeyed back to Mexico each time seasonal work in Rupert dried up.

“I feel like I’m truly Mexican- American. Growing up my first language was Spanish. I learned English from watching ‘Sesame Street.’ I have that binational identity really ingrained in me, because I lived that life of working in and being part of the American school system, and going to Mexico and washing our clothes out in the river with my mom because we didn’t have running water in the house. I lived those extremes,” López said.

López discovered her love of music in the fields singing mariachi tunes with her mother. Although she was never exposed to classical music, her voice didn’t go unrecognized.

“I would sing at rodeos, quinceaneras, and weddings. Sometimes I was not even prepared, but there was a mariachi band there and my mom would be like, ‘Go, go!’” López said.

López’s parents praised her singing, but implied that the American Dream was just for boys. When her older brother was admitted to Boise State University there was “a huge wow factor” at home. However, the reaction to López’s academic success was, “That’s cute, good job. Now go get married and have kids.”

In defiance of that norm, López followed a boyfriend to the vast city of Las Vegas after high school. When the relationship didn’t work out, she stayed there, and against all odds an orthopedic surgeon hired her as a technician.

“I remember telling [the surgeon], ‘I don’t have the training. I grew up in Idaho. I hoed beets. But I have tough hands, they’re really strong. So if you’re willing to train me I’ll be there,”’ she said.

That fearless, can-do attitude became López’s trademark in her opera career, which she embarked on during her sophomore year at University of Nevada Las Vegas. She was studying to be a music teacher when she sat down to watch a production of the opera “La Bohème” by Giacomo Puccini, starring her friends in the music program.

The 26-year-old López had never seen an opera or even a play, but she quickly found herself covered in goosebumps and caught up in the drama. When the soprano died at the end of the opera, real tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Walking out of the theater, I told my ex-husband, ‘What my friends, as singing actors, made me feel, that is what I want to do. I want to study vocal technique, what we do to sing. I want to focus on this opera singing and be a part of that,’” she said, adding, “... When people say opera chose me, I don’t fight back.”

In a few short months López landed the lead role of Pamina in a school production of “The Magic Flute.” From there, one workshop and residency lead to another. She was cast in what would become her signature role—Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi’s “La traviata”—in 2014, and her fame rocketed. In 2020, USA Today named her one of Idaho’s 10 Most Influential Women of the Century.

López’s journey may seem fated, but she gave up a lot to achieve success, including time with her daughter, Sara, who is now a teenager and pursuing a career as a cellist. When López and her now-ex husband divorced, she lost custody of Sara because, according to the judge, “opera singing was a hobby” that wouldn’t support her daughter.

“It was a battle that I ended up losing, but it’s okay, because I find peace in my music,” she said.

Today, López is using her story to inspire others and encourage them to pursue unlikely dreams. This winter, she took up the post of Artistic Advisor at Opera Idaho, returning to her Gem State roots and the first professional opera company she ever auditioned for. In her new role, López will shape the future of the company with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Everywhere I go, I try to break down that stigma, that mystery behind opera. I try to get younger audiences to the show and let them know opera is for everyone,” she said. “Look at me, I grew up in the fields! I’m literally a testament to what I’m saying.

This May, López will supplement her Opera Idaho duties with a live outdoor performance at Opera Colorado. The show, “Canciones de Nuestra Tierra,” will combine her mother’s mariachi tunes with the arias she loves, bringing her music full circle.