Upcoming Concerts
Sunday, April 26, 2026 – 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Curtis Institute of Music, Bok Board Room – Philadelphia, PA
“Wild Nature Flute – Hermit Jazz with Cornelius Boots”
Solo Bass Shakuhachi Flute – Intentional Recital
Event Link
Returning to the Root. I am re-conceiving and recalibrating the solo recital. Featuring original compositions plus a Coltrane arrangement, this is a limited-seating, intentional presentation of the soul-shifting tone of a rare low-pitched, root-end bamboo flute. At the crossroads of solo recital, porch blues, spiritualist séance and cave ritual, we will shift to an elemental perception and participate in a breath-powered odyssey that is both rustic and virtuosic – earthy and ethereal. It will engage subtle-perception and transmit the range of vital energies that saturate primeval nature.
Limited to 15 reserved attendees, we will be experiencing this elemental nature music up close in a historic space. This April, I am celebrating 25 years of studying, practicing and conjuring a new voice for this ancient instrument.
My Tiny Desk Contest 2026 Entry –
new tune “Magic Salamander Blues”
Looking back at the World Shakuhachi Festival 2025
Check out the Photo Gallery
Wood Prophets bass shakuhachi quartet perform at the World Shakuhachi Festival 2025 – photo by Justin Kling
More videos of WSF performances coming soon…
Click HERE and go to Calendar past performances, videos, etc.
20th Anniversary Edition of Agrippa’s 3 Books!
The Dr. Rhythm Remix
New composition “Eternal Ground” live at Ithaca College, April 2, 2025
2024 Year in Review:
Solo Shakuhachi Performances in:
Scotland – Ireland – Amsterdam – Texas – Tennessee – Norway – Philadelphia – Arizona
Compositions Commissioned and Completed for:
low clarinet choir & percussion* – reed quintet* – solo bass clarinet* – solo contrabass clarinet – low clarinet quintet
11 separate pieces or movements – 70 minutes of music
*premiered in 2024
Transcription Arrangements Commissioned and Completed:
3 Sinéad O’Connor tunes for bass clarinet super-sextet – 14 minutes of music
Live at St. Ann’s in Dublin, Ireland 2024
R.L. Burnside played on Bass Shakuhachi
Mississippi Hill Country Blues meets Zen Bamboo Flute
“Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down”
Wood Prophecy now available on Apple Music, Spotify, and all those types of places!
Jimi Hendrix on the shakuhachi – Charley Patton Tribute Concert
Shakuhachi Music Video “Green Swampy Water”
Great press on the music video in Paste Magazine written by Oktay Ege Kozak
Bass Shakuhachi Ensemble Debut: the only composing Taimu Group
Pre-Videogame Live Performance,
Sony PlayStation E3 2018
Photo by Stephanie Mohan, 2018
About Cornelius Boots
Cornelius Boots has forged his own no-holds-barred style as a professional woodwind performer/composer/teacher since 1989. He is a three-time graduate of Jacobs School of Music (BM Classical Clarinet ’97, BS Audio Recording ’97, MM Jazz Studies ’99) and licensed grandmaster (dai shihan) in the dynamic Zen shakuhachi lineage of Watazumido. A reliable source of big bamboo blues and dark nature music, he is the recipient of international awards and is an active recording artist.
Continue to About or
Full Bio
Edmund Welles
About Edmund Welles: the bass clarinet quartet
Edmund Welles has had the distinction of being the world’s only original, composing band of four bass clarinetists, performing “heavy chamber music.” Cornelius Boots is the founder and principal composer of this former group. While the performing days of the group are over, material remains to be released. Sign up on Cornelius’ newsletter list to be alerted to future releases.
The bass clarinet has a 5 octave range and a huge span of tonal, melodic, and rhythmic capabilities…