Isabella Daltoso will be playing a key role in Handel’s ‘Rinaldo’ this summer

Isabella Daltoso is all about music.

In her future.

In her past.

In her present.

Her goal in 10 years? 

“Hopefully I will be happy, doing music, and music will still be making me happy, and my music will be making other people happy,” she said.

In the not too distant past, she excelled at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, finding her love for opera.

“It meant so much to me. That’s where I grew my love for the arts and my appreciation for music, for theater, and for storytelling,” Daltoso said. “The students there are exposed to art all the time. It’s really formative. I was there all seven years. The teachers saw me grow and helped with that growth process.”

Today, Daltoso is a student at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. She also made her professional opera debut last spring at Vashon Opera.

This summer, Daltoso has an opportunity to perform and study at the prestigious Chicago Summer Opera, a training program for young artists.

And, she is hoping that music lovers, art aficionados, family, and friends will help in her journey. Daltoso has a GoFundMe account set up to help with expenses. She is grateful to have received a partial scholarship to Chicago Summer Opera, but she is raising funds to offset all the other costs associated with attending the program.

“I set my goal at $2,000, thinking I would like to ask my family and friends and support system for some help,” Daltoso said. “I’ve been blown away from people who have responded.”

As of this week, she has raised more than $1,200, 60 percent of her goal.

Daltoso started singing in her church choir when she was in the second grade. She found opera her sophomore year of high school. She was inspired by voice teacher Laura Beckel Thoreson. 

“Something just clicked,” Daltoso said of opera. “This is the style I feel most natural in. I just fell in love with the music and the storytelling.”

At Chicago Summer Opera, Daltoso has been cast as Goffredo in the production of Handel’s “Rinaldo.” 

A story of love, war, and redemption, “Rinaldo” follows historical figures but has elements of the fantastic — evil sorceresses, sirens, and magicians, Daltoso explained on the GoFundMe page. 

“I love the acting challenge of playing outside of my own experience, as well as the subversion of gender-norms that happens when a woman gets to play the crusader general,” Daltoso noted.

Before heading to Chicago, Daltoso will be finishing her senior year at PLU, while studying abroad in an exchange program. She leaves for Vienna this weekend. 

To donate to Isabella Daltoso’s fundraiser, go to her GoFundMe page at: https://gf.me/v/c/wxj6/help-isabella-sing-at-chicago-summer-opera