Conductor

Jeffrey Kern joined the faculty of the University of the Arts in 1991, holding the rank of Associate Professor until his retirement in December 2023. Besides having served as head of the Voice Department for 20 years, his teaching responsibilities included applied voice, conducting, advanced piano classes, advanced sight reading, vocal pedagogy for teachers, musicianship, jazz ear training, English diction and IPA for vocalists, and classes for the Musical Theater Minor. He conducted the University Chorus, Handbell Ensemble, OcTonics, and the Musical Theater Ensemble. He has also acted as music director in the theater department’s productions of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Cabaret, A Chorus Line, Rodgers and Hart Revue, On the Town, and Weird Romance. In 1998, he received the Louise Beitzel Award for excellence in teaching.

Mr. Kern served as conductor of the Voices of the POPS, a 12-voice professional group that sang with The Philly POPS. He also conducted the Pops Festival Chorus, a 170-voice chorus that sang with the Philly Pops for their Holiday Concerts as well as several concert series during the year. In addition, Mr. Kern served as vocal coach for many prominent Broadway actors who performed with the Philly POPS.

From 1991-2000, Mr. Kern served as Assistant Conductor of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia. During his tenure, he conducted members of Choral Arts in performances of Kodaly’s Missa Brevis at the Annenberg Center with the Jose Limon Dance Company, and prepared the chorus for performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra that include Ravel’s Daphnes et Chloe, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Saint-Saens’ complete Samson et Dalila, Mahler’s Symphonies No. 2 and 3, Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Debussy’s Nocturnes and Handel’s Messiah. In 1998 he prepared the chorus for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, combined with the New York Choral Society, American Boy Choir, and the Delaware Symphony. As a member of Choral Arts, he has been featured as a soloist in Richard Strauss’ Deutshe Motette and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor.

From 1985-1997, Mr. Kern was director of music at the First Baptist Church of Haddonfield, NJ, where he was organist and directed eight choirs. Mr. Kern is originally from Slatington, PA. He received his B.S. in Music Education from Lebanon Valley College in 1975 where he was a voice major, and his M. M. in Music Education from University of Michigan in 1983, with a choral conducting emphasis. He presently resides in Cherry Hill, NJ.

Active in regional theater, Mr. Kern has played in the orchestras of Walnut Street Theater’s productions of A Chorus Line, Damn Yankees, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music, as well as the recent national tour of Mamma Mia. He has served as music director for several community theater productions including Hello,Dolly!, Mame, No, No, Nanette, The Music Man, Destry Rides Again, and Dames at Sea. In addition, Mr. Kern has conducted several festival choruses in the area, including District 11 Festival Chorus (2001), Bucks County Festival Chorus (2005), Pennsylvania All-State Chorus (2006), All-Catholic High School Chorus (2007), Salem County Chorus (2014) and Pennsylvania Region V Chorus (2018). He has had several of his choral and orchestral arrangements performed by the Philly POPS, the Ocean City Pops, the Richmond Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony.