Skip to main content Skip to footer
Saginaw Valley State University

October 2, 2017

Unique ‘Piano Windtet’ from Germany to perform in concert at SVSU

Piano WindtetA group to believed to be the only "Piano Windtet" of its kind (piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn) will perform in concert at Saginaw Valley State University Sunday, Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall as part of SVSU’s Rhea Miller Concert Series.

Featuring four wind soloists from German orchestras and one pianist, the members of Ensemble 4.1 devote themselves to chamber music for this unusual combination of instruments.

Since forming in 2013, the group has given concerts in Germany and overseas, some of them organized by the Goethe Institute and by German embassies abroad. Their special communicative power and their intoxicating atmosphere on stage have been repeatedly praised by critics.

In addition to the masterpieces for this original instrumentation by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, the ensemble is devoted to discovering rarely played compositions from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Composers such as Walter Gieseking, Theodor Verhey, Herrmann Zilcher, and David Stephen are again being performed for an enthusiastic public.

The musicians of Ensemble 4.1 are:

  • Alexander Glücksmann, who began playing the clarinet at the age of nine. In 2003 he was appointed principal clarinet of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra.  
  • Thomas Hoppe, piano, who has won numerous prizes and awards including the German Music Competition in 2004, the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in 2007, selection as BBC New Generation Artists in 2009 and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Special Ensemble Fellowship in 2012.
  • Christoph Knitt, who gained his first experience as an orchestral musician as principal bassoon in the State Youth Orchestra of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 2006 he has been principal bassoon at the Potsdam Chamber Academy.
  • Fritz Pahlmann, who was and is a regular guest as principal horn at the State Opera in Munich, the Munich Philharmonic and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, as well as other orchestras. He has been engaged as principal horn for the Staatskapelle Weimar Orchestra since 2007.
  • Jörg Schneider, who was made principal oboe in the RIAS-Youth Orchestra Berlin, and has been associate principal oboe for the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra since 2007.  He is a winner of international chamber music competitions in Osaka, Marseille and Schwerin and a is scholarship holder of the German Music Competition.

The Rhea Miller Concert Series is made possible by a generous gift from Rhea E. Miller, a longtime friend of SVSU. Her gift, administered by the Miller Trust for Music Education, has provided the university with the opportunity to offer outstanding performances by nationally and internationally acclaimed musical artists at no cost to the audience since 1993. For more information, call (989) 964-4159 or email music@svsu.edu.