Dr. Jeffery Redding, UCF’s director of Choral Activities, leads his University Singers choir in a classroom at the Performing Arts Center in spring 2024.
Lucy Dillon
When Dr. Jeffery Redding speaks, his words carry the same conviction and rhythm that fill the concert halls his choirs perform in. The director of choral activities at UCF and winner of the 2019 Grammy Music Educator Award doesn’t just teach music — he teaches purpose.
“I’ve been singing all my life,” Redding said. “I don’t ever remember not singing.”
Born and raised in Orlando, Redding’s journey began at Jones High School. Under the direction of his teacher Edna Harvard, his love for music truly took shape. She nurtured his passion for choral singing and showed him how music could move people and build community.
After high school, Redding attended Florida A&M University, where another mentor, Dr. Augustus Pearson Jr., changed the course of his career.
“I went to school to be a singer, not a conductor,” Redding said.
But when Pearson fell ill, he entrusted his young student with leading the choir at the Florida All-State Convention.
“The Florida All-State Convention has a session called the Black Caucus, and so we did a big performance there and I conducted a piece called ‘My Lord, What a Morning’,” Redding said. “I started crying, the choir started crying in the middle of conducting — at that point in time, I knew that’s what I was called to do.”
Redding went on to earn his master’s and doctorate from Florida State University, studying under Dr. Andre Thomas and Dr. Rodney Eichenberger, both renowned conductors known not only for their artistry but also for the way they led — with humility, empathy and an emphasis on community. Their example reinforced Redding’s growing belief that leadership in music goes beyond technical skill.
“Standing on the podium is an honor, not a right,” Redding said. “Be a servant. You cannot be a leader if you don’t know how to serve — that’s what’s called servant leadership.”
This belief guided him for 22 years as he directed the choir at West Orange High School, where he led singers who performed from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. After decades of shaping young voices, Redding’s lifelong dedication to music education was recognized with the 2019 Grammy Music Educator Award.
But the award, he insists, was never about him.
“That Grammy is for my mom, number one, for all the sacrifices that she made,” Redding said. “Number two is for every teacher who believed in me, and number three is for my students. So what the Grammy did was give me a larger platform to talk about unity, to talk about how we are stronger together than we are apart.”
His philosophy — sing to inspire, not to impress — shapes everything he does at UCF, where he has led the choral program since 2020. His vision is to grow it into one of the nation’s top choral programs, not only through performance but through community.
“We have a choir for everyone; it does not matter your background,” Redding said. “In fact, we want people with little background, high background, we want them all. If you come and you want to be taught, we’ll teach you — that’s all that’s needed.”
At UCF, Redding’s ensembles bring together students from all majors —engineers, biologists, musicians — united by a love for singing.
“When you see our choir, you see a community,” Redding said. “A community of singers from all backgrounds, singing nights, changing lives and then going out and changing their lives.”
Redding’s approach to teaching is as personal as it is musical. His lessons focus as much on humanity as on harmony. He often reminds his students that a choir’s power comes not from perfect technique, but from connection, understanding one another and singing with empathy.
“Never believe that you’re as good as you think you are, because if you do, you stop growing,” Redding said. “Always give the amount of grace that you may need one day in your life because you never know what someone is going through.”
His belief in empathy and service fuels his idea of servant leadership, a principle that runs through every rehearsal, every concert and every conversation with a student.
“Our job is to plant seeds,” Redding said. “We may not ever see them blossom, but our job is to give what’s been given to us.”
Even as his choirs prepare for their upcoming Seasons of Joy concert at Steinmetz Hall on Nov. 24, Redding remains focused on the deeper work of his legacy.
“I gave my best, I gave my all,” Redding said. “I love my students and I just wanted them to be the best version of themselves.”