VICTORIANA
“Upon entering the exhibition, one is aurally lured to the cellar by “Victoriana,” an installation of manipulated found sound by composer R. Weis. It’s surprising that the melodically pleasing, hour-long composition, which intensifies in speed and complexity, grew out of only 15 seconds of raw sound material (creaking and slamming doors) recorded in the artist’s 19th-century Pittsburgh house.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/10/2009
DOG CHOIR
"Have Some Style -- Three concertists who do not lack style, one soloist who barks his sonatas. Better than "Pop Star", Spot, Dot, Bark, Pepper and Puppy today find themselves at the head of a peculiar box office: that of dog songs. The visit takes place with a musical background, a Dog Choir, created by R. Weis, a poet and composer who specializes in sampling and manipulating sounds." -- LeFigaro, Paris, summer 2003
"Grand Opening -- The Singing Dogs. The climax of this homage rendered to the most faithful companion of man is the "Dog Choir" from the artist R. Weis, poet specializing in recording and manipulation of sound. Three Jack Russell Terriers and a Chihuahua accompany the soloist, a husky puppy named Juba, composing a highly-uplifting musical "collage" which has a place of choice amongst the events of summer." -- Paris Capitale Magazine, Paris, summer 2003
"This is probably the most original and amusing exhibit of the summer in Paris. Be the judge yourself: Savannah College of Art and Design presents in the very elegant Mona Bismarck Foundation a series of photographs, paintings, installations, jewels, and dresses happily delirious and created especially for this manifestation by American plasticians in honor of dogs. The apotheosis of this exhibit: a musical choir where the soloists are no less than our four-legged companions!" -- Leclubparis.com, summer 2003
"The students of SCAD love dogs and prove it in this exhibit which shows a surprising mixture of their creations (dog fashion, furniture for dogs, installations). Photos from Sandy Skoglund, Tennyson, Wegman (a whole room is dedicated to Wegman) as well as paintings (Nolan, Xie) complete the exhibit, which you visit while listening to a Dog Choir, conceived by R. Weis. Our appreciation: Three Woof Woofs, obviously." -- Le Nouvel Observateur de Paris Ile-de-France, summer 2003
"For viewers who like musical accompaniment when they are looking at art, SCAD commissioned a "Dog Choir" of multi-toned barking, howling and tag-rattling from California-based sound collage artist R. Weis. The score has a cutting-edge wit that the French like to call 'delirant' which means delirious." -- The Campus Chronicle, Savannah College of Art & Design, summer 2003
MYSTERY OF THE EGG
“...Find out how a computer can really be used to make new music on R. Weis’ Mystery of the Egg...” –- CMJ New Music Report, 2/27/95
SHATTERING LIGHT
"...drew one in with all the seductiveness of a soothing dream... a vivid sound score by R. Weis..."
Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times, 11/91
REQUIEM FOR A PAPERWEIGHT
Requiem For A Paperweight is "...as rewarding to listen to as to look at...a minor miracle of graphic stage management... Sometimes it's witty, touching and smart... it gets a lot of help from a score by R. Weis... its loopy sounds and snippets of poetry make a binding auditory texture..."
William Wilson, Los Angeles Times, 8/94
"...a richly textured, haunting vision of life in the future...a dazzling morality play, its hero, the Everyman of late-20th-century corporate life. A stereotypically overworked, anonymous cog in the Japanese business machine, the protagonist exists in a high-tech, migraine-inducing netherworld of garish neon color, charts and lab equipment, glossy ads, and business statistics. Haunted by shadowy memories of family and childhood and elusive promises of health and happiness, he faces a future in which bankruptcy, unemployment, and forced retirement are the preludes to his own cosmic apotheosis in death. His desperate search for meaning is met only with shiny, deceptive dreams.
"Enhanced by the score of composer R. Weis, who works with language and manipulated sound, the installation format works brilliantly for Tress. The dark-painted walls and vivid light reinforce the impression that we are witnessing, as in a medieval chapel, a kind of contemporary morality play."
Peter Clothier
ArtNews, 3/95
