A native of the Durham region east of Toronto, Fred was educated at Newcastle Public, and Bowmanville High Schools, before pursuing music studies at the University of Toronto (Music Education and Organ Performance); The Berlin School of Church Music, Germany (Church music and Choral Conducting); the Eastman School of Music, Rochester (Organ Performance); and doctoral studies in Liturgical Theology at Drew University, Madison, NJ. His thesis “With One Heart and One Voice” (Scarecrow Press) was published in 2004.

His career included elementary and high school teaching in Ottawa and Saint John, NB, prior to becoming Music Director at All Saints’ Cathedral, Halifax, and adjunct professor at both the Atlantic School of Theology, and Dalhousie University. From 1988-2001 he was Officer for Worship and Music at the national headquarters of The United Church of Canada, participating actively in preparation of the hymn collection, Voices United, and offering workshops in both liturgy and church music coast to coast. As a representative of the United Church, he was one of 7 persons working for four years to shape the Revised Common Lectionary, (1992) a cycle of bible readings used around the world.

In 2001, he was appointed Professor of Church Music and Dean of Students at Emmanuel College, a seminary of the United Church. In 2008, he concluded a four- year effort to establish Canada’s only Master of Sacred Music program at the College, in collaboration with the Faculty of Music, U of T. He retired from the College in 2012, just after being awarded the Davidson Prize for excellence in theological teaching. In 2014 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Hymn Society in the US and Canada (FHS). In 2024, he was installed as an Officer in the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem.

Fred continues his 60-year association with the Royal Canadian College of Organists, having received the Distinguished Service Award. He is a member of the Board of the Newcastle Village and District Historical Society, and supports several international ecumenical associations such as Societas Liturgica. He is the author of the annotated and authorized version of the Revised Common Lectionary, (Fortress, 2012) and lectured in 2023 in Ireland on that document. Additionally, he is a Licensed Lay Leader in The United Church of Canada. Currently he serves as lead musician at St. George’s Anglican Church in Pickering Village.

Since 1972, Fred has been married to Melva Treffinger, also a leading church musician and choral specialist; they have two children and two grandchildren. In semi- retirement, Fred and Melva reside in North Oshawa.