David Settle Returns to Chickasha for Recital
Opera singer, former area newspaper publisher and USAO graduate Dr. David Settle returns to Chickasha for a recital July 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the USAO Alumni Chapel. The performance is free and open to the public.
The recital will include numbers by Johannes Brahms, Giacomo Puccini, Francis Poulenc, Cole Porter and Nicolas Slonimsky.
The finale of the program includes five advertising songs by Slonimsky including Make This a Day of Pepsodent, And Then Her Doctor Told Her, Snowy -- White, No More Shiny Nose, and Children Cry for Castoria.
Settle is an instructor of voice at Sterling College in Sterling, Kans. He received a bachelor of arts degree in vocal performance from USAO in 1988. He earned a master's degree in opera performance from Oklahoma City University and received a doctor of musical arts degree in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma.
Settle has performed with the Shreveport Opera, the Lyric Opera of Dallas, Opera Oklahoma and with Broadway star and Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth. He has performed in master classes with mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horn and Metropolitan Opera Coach Nicole Costelle. He was first alternate in the District Metropolitan Opera auditions.
He studied with Sean Daniel at the University of Oklahoma, Florence Birdwell at Oklahoma City University, the late Stephen Dickson of the Metropolitan Opera and OCU.
While at USAO, Settle studied with Don Hartmann. He received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the USAO Alumni Association in 1998. His family owned and operated several newspapers in the area including The Chickasha Star, The Minco Minstrel and The Tuttle Times. He also was active in the Chickasha Rotary Club.
Settle married USAO graduate Anita (Stewart) Settle in 1982. They have three children and live in Lyons, Kans. where he is the publisher of The Lyons News. He also is director of newspaper operations for Hi Neighbor! Newspapers -- the parent company for several community newspapers in central Kansas.
Performing with Settle on the piano will be Dr. Brad Nix, chair of the music department and director of keyboard studies at Sterling College. Nix has significant expertise in the study of ergonomic, injury-free piano technique. He has worked with noted pedagogue Barbara Lister-Sink as well as teachers associated with the Taubman Institute of Piano, the American Matthay Association, the Abby Whiteside Foundation and Andover Educators.
In 2001, he was awarded one of six national Mu Phi Epsilon grants for summer study. In addition, he won the 2000 Thomas Brumby Concerto Competition, earning him an appearance with the Georgia State University Orchestra and, in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a performer, he was awarded the Atlanta Steinway Society Award in 1997.