Cortez: Cello Suite Bouquet, Lotus Petals Unfolding – Arlen Hlusko

Internationally acclaimed cellist Arlen Hlusko’s newest album, komorebi, presents a reflection on Bach’s deeply moving Suite No. 5, juxtaposed with a myriad of contemporary American voices. Recorded at Tippet Rise Art Center, the album highlights the richness and power of community and storytelling.

Composed by Paul V. Cortez, an inmate at Sing Sing, a maximum-security prison in New York, Lotus Petals Unfolding is part of the 12-movement Cello Suite Bouquet that Cortez wrote as a participant in Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Program. Each piece in the Bouquet is named after a different flower and is composed in one of the twelve musical keys. Inspired by the Bach Cello Suites and his music teacher, Arlen Hlusko, Paul set out to write the Cello Suite Bouquet in the Spring of 2023.

A full-length music video filmed at the art center accompanies the track.