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David Sievers is a Lecturer in Voice in the Department of Music at the University of Dayton, where he has taught since 2005. At UD, he teaches private voice, diction and literature for singers, voice pedagogy and other related courses. He has served as director and/or conductor for over 30 productions at UD, including Godspell, Dido and Aeneas, The Sound of Music, The Magic Flute, Grease, Die Fledermaus and Once Upon a Mattress. He also taught in Leipzig, Germany, as part of a UD fully-integrated, interdisciplinary Summer Study Abroad program ("Faith, Music and Human Rights in Eastern Germany") in 2008, 2010 and 2013. He also coordinates the weekly Friday Student Recital for all music majors. He is also the advisor for the UD all-women a cappella ensemble Flying Solos. He recently became a Marianist Educational Associate.

An active tenor recitalist, Dr. Sievers has performed in Italy, Germany, Puerto Rico and throughout the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. He has performed with the Bach Society of Dayton, the First Baptist Church of Kettering, St. George Episcopal Church, the Epiphany Players, Dayton Opera, Central State University, Wittenberg University, Bloomington Music Works, the Opera Theater and Music Festival of Lucca, Bloomington Early Music Festival, Spokane Opera, Washington East Opera, and Richland Light Opera. He has sung many of the character tenor roles in the lyric theater canon, from Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Guys and Dolls), the Beadle (Sweeney Todd), and Archibald Craven (The Secret Garden) to Dr. Caius (Falstaff), Goro (Madama Butterfly), Dr. Blind (Die Fledermaus), Remendado (Carmen), Donald Hopewell (Gallantry), King Kaspar (Amahl and the Night Visitors) and the Emperor Altoum (Turandot). He has been the tenor soloist for symphonic works including Amy Beach’s Te Deum, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mozart's Requiem, Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Haydn's The Creation, Rachmaninoff's Vespers and Adolphus Hailstork's cantata I will lift up mine eyes. In Fall 2024, he will be presenting a recital entitled “Diverging Roads” honoring the poetry of Robert Frost and featuring three world premieres at the new Roger Glass Center for the Arts.

Raised in Kennewick, Wash., Dr. Sievers holds a Bachelor of Music (summa cum laude) degree from Washington State University, a Master of Music degree from Boise State University and the Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, where he studied with Paul Kiesgen and was an associate instructor, teaching voice and undergraduate vocal pedagogy. Former teachers include famed Heldentenor Gary Lakes and Winnifred Ringhoffer. 

A church musician since the age of 12, Dr. Sievers is the Pastoral Associate of Music and Liturgy at St. Luke Parish in Beavercreek, Ohio. As a representative of the state of Washington, he was a member of the National Catholic Honors Choir, and in 1998, sang as a guest soloist with the Carolina Catholic Chorale at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II.

Faculty perspective

"I try to live by the motto of the famed Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra: Res severa est verum gaudium (“True joy is a serious business.”) Helping students discover their true joy and develop a process to work toward that joy is my delight and focus."

Research interests

• The Lieder of Wilhelm Killmayer
• The Importance of Singing for Instrumentalists
• The Intersection of Music and Faith

Professional activities

• Chair, Dayton Performing Arts Alliance High School Vocal Competition
• Board Member, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Ohio Chapter
• Marianist Educational Associate
• Member, New York Singing Teachers Association
• Member, National Opera Association
• Member, American Choral Directors Association
• Member, National Association of Pastoral Musicians
• Member, Phi Beta Kappa

Courses taught

• MUS 399/499/599 Applied Voice
• MUS 390-08 Opera Workshop
• MUS 200 Friday Student Recital
• MUS 408 Diction for Singers
• MUS 235 Voice Pedagogy
• MUS 236 Voice Lab