The work’s name is taken from Yehuda Amichai’s book of poetry of the same name, first published in 1998. It is a small blue book,resembling a prayer book. Its cover picture shows a potter shard with the word Amen. The work on the piece itself drew inspiration from several texts within the book, not so much as a concrete or literal reference, but in the unique way Amichai weaves together secularism and spirituality, a yearning for modesty and faith in humanity and love.

Open, Closed, Open is written as three continuous sonoric pictures, inviting the listener to experience a space/place until disengagement, or a passage to the next space/place. The sonoric materials were largely taken from the open strings of the string instruments. My intuitive reference as a composer was to the ancient playing technique of open strings, as opposed to playing while applying pressure on the string itself.