Metamorphosis was commissioned by Eric Kobb and the Cooperative Middle School Wind Ensemble (Stratham, NH) and premiered by that ensemble on June 2, 2010. Since the Cooperative Middle School is only about twenty minutes away from where I teach at the University of New Hampshire, I was fortunate enough to be actively involved with the students throughout the process, which was a truly enjoyable experience. In fact, part of our procedure involved having the students write letters to me discussing their own ideas for the commission. Mr. Kobb and I then chose the best suggestions from the list and the band voted on the final selection.

Metamorphosis is intended to trace the life cycle of a butterfly, beginning with a slow, beautiful melody (the caterpillar), followed by a faster, transformational passage (the caterpillar in the chrysalis), after which a new "butterfly" melody emerges, suggesting that the butterfly has taken flight. At the end of the piece, the opening material returns as the butterfly floats off into the distance. Although the piece was intended to be about the life cycle of a butterfly, it occurred to me as I was composing that this whole idea of transformation and metamorphosis applies just as easily to our own development as humans, from our innocent childhood through adolescence to the point at which we ourselves "take flight."