A kaleidoscope of monarchs

Work Note:
Every year, monarch butterflies travel almost 5000 km between their summer breeding grounds in the US and Canada and their overwintering sites in Michoacán, Mexico. No single butterfly completes a full round trip. The northward journey takes three to four generations, while a late-summer "super generation" makes the entire southward trek. When they arrive, the monarchs coat the trees so densely that branches bend under their weight and the forest hums with a dry rustling. As the sun rises, the air fills with swirling clouds of orange as hundreds of millions of butterflies take off into the air. The term for a group of monarchs is a kaleidoscope of monarchs.

The piece was inspired by the fact that I was very in love at the time of writing, which made me think about the concept of butterflies in my stomach. The material is in part inspired by the piece “Crown Imperial” by William Walton.

Premiered by The Swedish Wind Ensemble | Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm | 23 May 2026

ca 3’ 30” | 2026

Wind Orchestra: 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 Bb cl, Eb cl, B. cl, bsn, alt sax, ten sax, 3 cor/tpt, 2 hn, 2 tbn (1 euf), b tbn, tba in F, 1 perc, d b

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