The Sky About to Open (2004) for orchestra was written for and is dedicated to composer Judith Weir, on the occasion of her 50th birthday.

The work is based on musical material from Desiring the Solicitude of Rain (2003-04) for tenor and chamber orchestra, based on a text of Kathleen Wakefield. The title of this work comes from the poem. (The title also references Weir’s work The Welcome Arrival of Rain (2000) for orchestra.)

The work is a brief fanfare of spacious character—filled with anticipatory energy: the sky pregnant with rain about to fall.