“Cruzar la Cara de la Luna” (“To Cross the Face of the Moon”) is accurately described as a “mariachi opera,” which tells you a lot of what you need to know about the piece. But not everything.

The designation lets you know that “Cruzar,” which had its commissioned world premiere at Houston Grand Opera in 2010 and has now come to West Edge Opera for a three-performance run at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland, is full of tuneful, poignant and spirited music. The score, by the late José “Pepe” Martínez, uses the strains of mariachi — its lilting waltz rhythms, furious up-tempo numbers and melting vocal harmonies — to craft a family tale that spans several generations as well as the border between Mexico and the United States.

The possible surprise is that “Cruzar,” with a bilingual libretto by writer Leonard Foglia (a frequent collaborator with San Francisco composer Jake Heggie), is a stone-cold killer of a tearjerker, as shameless and effective as the most manipulative romance.

Or maybe I’m just an old softie. All I know is that during its opening matinee performance Sunday, July 23, “Cruzar” grabbed me by the heartstrings and wouldn’t let go. 

It isn’t as if this 90-minute piece covers new thematic ground. The central character, Laurentino, has a familiar, agonizing choice to make: whether to go north to the U.S. where he can make enough money to fully provide for his wife and infant son, or to stay in Mexico where an intact family life comes at the cost of grinding poverty.

Either choice is probably wrong — that’s the essence of this awful dilemma — but Laurentino’s decision has tragic results. The story plays out in a series of zig-zagging flashbacks covering a period of 50 years that lay out both the original swerve of Laurentino’s life and its cascading aftereffects for him and his extended family.

At the center of “Cruzar,” a repeated motif invokes the monarch butterflies that travel north and south across multiple generations. As corny as it is, it’s a perfect metaphor for Laurentino and countless migrant families like his.

None of this, though, would have been nearly as potent if not for the sprightly tenderness of Martínez’s music, or the care and expressive transparency of West Edge’s production. The 10-member local ensemble Mariachi Azteca, under the leadership of conductor Sixto Montesinos Jr., provided vibrant accompaniment throughout, serving not only as the instrumental “orchestra” but adding occasional vocals when a choral interjection was needed.

Director Karina Gutiérrez, an assistant professor at Santa Clara University, staged the action with virtuosic skill, moving the performers this way and that on Carlos Aceves’ ingenious guitar-shaped set to create an array of distinctive worlds in Texas, Mexico and the treacherous border country. From the early joyous scenes of Laurentino’s marriage (vivaciously plotted by San Francisco choreographer César Lino) through the somber final moments, Gutiérrez found an apt emotional tone for each permutation.

The piece turns on Laurentino himself, in all his life stages, and baritone Efraín Solís created yet another in the series of impeccably etched performances that have marked his career in the Bay Area. His Laurentino was by turns cocky and remorseful, and conveyed throughout by singing of lustrous presence.

Mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra made an exquisite contribution as Laurentino’s wife Renata, alongside tenor Moisés Salazar and soprano Alissa Aguilar (fresh out of Santa Ana High School) in a vivid turn as their married friends Chucho and Lupita. Bernardo Bermudez and Aléxa Anderson were in excellent form as Laurentino’s American-born son and granddaughter, and Sergio González was the picture of resentment and pain as his son Rafael.

The story moves fluently across the border between the two countries, and the libretto — some spoken, most of it sung — shifts with similar ease between Spanish and English. In a skillful touch, the supertitles alternate in tandem, providing a translation into whatever language is not being heard at any given moment.

Presumably because “Cruzar” isn’t quite long enough to hold a full evening on its own, the opera was preceded by a concert of mariachi numbers by Mariachi Azteca, Salazar and a few other soloists (including, at Sunday’s opening, Salazar’s father, whose singing was unfortunately drowned out by a wave of feedback from a malfunctioning sound system).

It was good to have a little warm-up, especially for listeners not fully conversant with the sound world of mariachi music. But it was hard to avoid the feeling that this reflected a certain lack of faith in the expressive power of “Cruzar” itself, which needs no help making its presence felt.

Correction: An earlier version of this review referred incorrectly to the character played by Aléxa Anderson. She is the main character’s granddaughter.

Reach Joshua Kosman: jkosman@sfchronicle.com.