Windtet returns

Baseball games get rained out.

But classical music concerts are usually impervious to weather.

Not so last year when Ensemble 4.1 came to perform in Jay County, only to run into the winter’s worst snowstorm.

The group, which bills itself as the only piano windtet in the world, is returning Feb. 8 to Arts Place in Portland in hopes that Mother Nature will be a little kinder this time around.

“Last year the group actually managed to get here on Friday, but the morning of the performance we had a snow storm,” Arts Place executive director Eric Rogers recalled. “By 3 o’clock we had to cancel the event because it wasn’t safe for people to be out.”

The windtet, based in Germany, will perform in Hall-Moser Theatre at 7:30 p.m.

The group added next weekend’s Arts Place performance as a coda to its current U.S. tour, squeezing it into the schedule between performances at BIG ARTS in Sanibel, Florida, and the Coburg State Theatre in Coburg, Germany.

So what is a windtet anyway?

It’s a group of four wind soloists — French horn, bassoon, oboe, clarinet — and one pianist.

“All five of them are internationally known artists,” said Rogers.

Its members are are Jörg Schneider, oboe; Alexander Glücksmann, clarinet; Christoph Knitt, bassoon; Thomas Hoppe, piano; and Fritz Pahlmann, French horn.

“There really aren’t any (other) touring piano windtets around,” Rogers said. “They call themselves the only piano windtet in the world, and I think that’s a fair statement.

The group focuses its performances on bringing new life into rare or undiscovered compositions.

The performance will include classical pieces from the likes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven as well as rarely played compositions from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Rogers noted, “Surprisingly there’s quite a bit of music” composed for that combination.

Last year’s snowstorm snafu was a factor in securing Ensemble 4.1 this time around.

“I called the (booking agent) and asked if there was any possibility they would be in the area,” said Rogers. “The group said ‘Let’s just make it work,’ so they did.”

“In 40 some years, I’ve never had that situation before,” Rogers said of the snowstorm cancellation.

The group had rooms at the Holiday Inn Express in Portland, but local restaurants closed because of the severity of the storm.

“They ended up getting food at Walmart,” said Rogers. “It was a perfect storm.”

Tickets — $12 for students and $20 for adults — to see the long-awaited ensemble can be purchased online at artsland.org, over the phone at (260) 426-4809, or in person at 131 E. Walnut St. Tickets at the door will be $13 and $23, respectively.