Cornelius Boots plays renegade nature music on giant Zen bamboo flutes. These raw bamboo flutes evoke the breathy sound of sacred mysteries and have been used as meditation tools by esoteric Zen monks and mountain hermits for over 1000 years. Exploring these earthy sounds creates a connection to Nature and primordial dream states of consciousness: the trees singing, the mud chanting, the cave yawning, the sage wandering, the invisible glowing.

Cornelius' performance at Meridian will consist entirely of the long-form, chance operation format called The Hermetic Bamboo Flute Method. This is an experimental, improvised music ritual focused on spontaneous, elemental sound explorations on 10 big bamboo flutes. The turn of Hermetic Tarot cards determines the flute and the style of each selection. The performer connects to the moment and the Invisible; the listener experiences the arising and passing away of various sounds. The performance will include special guest space-holder Felicia I. Chavez: PhD candidate in Mythological Studies, dream detective, sustainable business consultant and long-time meditation practitioner.

Cornelius Boots is an East Bay composer, performer and instructor specializing in single-reeds and flutes. He is a dabbler in Tibetan mysticism and Taoist wizardry, and a devotee of the Respirational Arts. He has music degrees from Indiana University (BM Clarinet Performance '97, BS Audio Recording '97, MM Jazz Studies '99) and is currently working towards his shihan (master teaching license) on shakuhachi with Michael Chikuzen Gould. Recent projects include the composing, calligraphic notation and recording of a series of 27 etudes (mukyoku) for Taimu shakuhachi (large Zen bamboo flute) and performances and recordings with the elemental sound-structuring ensemble, Sabbaticus Rex. In 1996 he founded the world's only composing bass clarinet quartet, Edmund Welles, for which he has written over 60 compositions and arrangements of virtuosic "heavy chamber music." Edmund Welles has released 3 albums, had a handful of featured performances, awards and commissions from various arts organizations and shared the stage with Medeski, Martin and Wood, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and Extra Action Marching Band.