Cloudburst is one of Eric Whitacre's most famous compositions. Whitacre wrote the piece in 1992 (age 22) for eight-part choir, with piano and percussion accompaniment. The text was adapted from Octavio Paz's poem El Cántaro Roto (The Broken Water-Jug). "Cloudburst" was the title feature of an album by Stephen Layton's chamber choir Polyphony. The album included other works by Whitacre and was nominated for the 2007 Grammy Award in best Choral Performance. A concert band version, commissioned for the Indiana All-State Band, was released by Whitacre in 2001.