R. WEIS began his creative career in 1982 after moving from Pittsburgh, PA to New York City. His earliest expressions took the form of poetry and monologues that were heard at venues such as The Poetry Project, La Mama Experimental Theatre, and on WBAI FM National Public Radio. At that time, Weis also began experiments with manipulation of pre-recorded sounds on cassette tape, and began assembling sound collages to be presented with his creative writing. Eventually, his focus shifted away from writing, and moved enthusiastically toward the idea of composing with manipulated sound. He began working on a sampler in 1990 and embraced the discipline of composing exclusively with samples of original sounds. A series of collaborations began, and resulted in sound scores for film, visual art, and dance. These collaborations were presented at many of New York City’s downtown venues, including Performance Space 122, Danspace Project, and the gallery Art et Industrie. His cd “Mystery of the Egg” was completed in 1994 and was heard on experimental radio programs in the U.S. and Europe. That same year, he collaborated with photographer Arthur Tress and composed the sound score for the museum installation “Requiem for a Paperweight”. “Requiem” was originally presented at University Art Museum, California State University Long Beach. It has since traveled to The Bridgewater/Lustberg Gallery in NYC, to German museums including The Ludwig Forum – Stadt Aachen, and in slide-show form at the 1994 CMJ Music Marathon in NYC. The sound score for “Requiem” was also heard as part of Arthur Tress’ retrospective “Fantastic Voyage, Photographs 1956-2000” at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

After 16 years in NYC’s East Village, Weis moved to the California desert. For three years, he worked on a composition called “noitatu MovE oveR” which is a meditation on the structures of the universe. The 29-minute composition is organized like the DNA double helix, and is made from only 6 original samples: 4 to represent the 4 base components of DNA; 1 to represent whole numbers; and 1 to represent prime numbers. After such a long immersion in this cosmic project, Weis was delighted to accept an invitation from The Savannah College of Art & Design to compose the light-hearted “Dog Choir” for the museum exhibit “Pour l’Amour des Chiens” at the Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, 2003.

He returned to Pittsburgh in 2006. In 2008 he completed “Victoriana,” a 1-hour composition based on sounds made by his 19th Century house. “Victoriana” premiered in the Gestures 12 exhibit at Pittsburgh’s Mattress Factory Art Museum, May and June 2009.
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