William J. Weisser
Director of Music Ministries
Dr. William J. Weisser is serving an extended interim as Centenary’s Director of Music Ministries.
Dr. Weisser, or “Dr. Bill”, recently retired after thirty-five years as Minister of Music at Edenton Street United
Methodist Church in Raleigh. He is currently leading the music ministry at Centenary as director of the adult
Sanctuary Choir and the Children's Choir and as the primary organist, and he is assisting in strategic planning for
the future of Centenary’s music program.
At Edenton Street, Dr. Weisser was responsible for seven singing choirs, three handbell choirs, three dance
ensembles and instrumental ensembles, and under his direction the Edenton Street Choir performed premieres and sang
in Savannah, GA., at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, in Moscow, and at Piccolo Spoleto, USA in Charleston, SC.
Dr. Weisser was Conductor and Artistic Director of the Capital Area Chorale and was Adjunct Assistant Professor for
North Carolina State University where he directed the University Singers for five years. He is a graduate of
Westminster Choir College, there studying organ and conducting and a member of the famous Westminster Choir, and he
received a doctor of humanities degree from Methodist College (NC). Dr. Weisser is an ordained Deacon in Full
Connection in the United Methodist Church and is chairperson for the North Carolina Conference Worship Commission,
which plans and overseers all Annual Conference worship. He is a past national president of the Fellowship of
United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, current dean of the Central North Carolina Chapter of the American
Guild of Organists, and an active member of Chorister's Guild, American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, National
Association of Teachers of Singing, and American Choral Director's Association.
Having performed with the Chicago Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony, Dr. Weisser has also presented numerous
organ recitals in the southeast and is in demand as an accompanist for oratorios and as a choral conductor. He
has served on the faculty of Louisburg College, was Interim Conductor of the Raleigh Oratorio Society, and was the
founding director of the Children's Choir of Duke Chapel. He is a published composer, and he has been honored
in Who’s Who listings and with several International Man of the Year awards.
Dr. Weisser grew up in Wrightsville, Pa where he served as organist for Methodist and Lutheran churches beginning at
the age of 13. He has served First Presbyterian Church in Joliet, Illinois and White Memorial Presbyterian
Church in Raleigh before being called to serve at Edenton Street UMC.
He is married to the former Anne Clendenin Ferree. They have a son and daughter –in-law, Chad and Hope
and a grandson, Samuel.
Simon Spalding,
Associate Director of Music Ministries
Simon Spalding has served Centenary UMC as Associate Music Director since March 2006. He currently provides
leadership for the Sunday 8:30 AM service, performances on a variety of instruments, and he directs varying
combinations of musicians and singers in several music genres.
A native of San Francisco, Simon performed there in his early years in theater and music ensembles and was active in
Presbyterian and Russian Orthodox churches. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley,
having studied ethnomusicology, early music and anthropology, including the Javanese
gamelan. He assisted in teaching traditional Chinese and Irish music, participated in Los Gringos Allegres (a
student mariachi band) and organized concerts of medieval music and his own compositions.
Simon played bass and contrabass balalaika with the Korowczenko Balalaika Orchestra and with the Massenkoff Russian
Folk Festival on US college campuses, the Dinah Shore Show, and at Carnegie Hall. He played in pops concerts
with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Baltimore, Honolulu, and London, Ontario; and performed at the
Chautaqua Institute, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, and the Concord Pavilion. He organized and directed music
groups for holiday and Renaissance faires, and he co-founded the San Francisco-based Dogwatch Nautical Band.
Simon performed with the folk group Golden Bough in San Francisco, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Switzerland.
He directed the San-Diego-based California Breezes in traditional and contemporary folk music of their home state,
performing at Stockholm’s Kungstraedgarden, Copenhagen’s Grabrodretorg, and the Rattviksdansen International
Festival.
With the folk-rock group, Celtic Stone, Simon played acoustic and electric fiddle and electric bass in the US and on
a European tour. He performed, composed, and arranged much of the material on the group’s third album,
“Natural Bridges.”
Other US and European performances and lectures have included L’Orient’s Festival Interceltique, Krakow’s Shanties
Festival, Raleigh’s Artsplosure, St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music (Russia), national maritime museums of Sweden
and Denmark, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
As a historian, Simon has worked as a US park ranger, was a maritime museum consultant in eastern NC, was Living
History Programs Manager at Tryon Palace, and has developed and presented lectures in the US and Europe.
Simon plays with several local groups and teaches on a variety of instruments. He teaches part time at
Gramercy Christian School in Newport, continues to perform at Tryon Palace and other local venues and churches, and
occasionally travels to perform in California, Poland, and elsewhere.
Simon and his wife Sara perform acoustic folk music together and live with their twins, Albert and Susannah, in New
Bern.
