Spotlight: Music at Studio Z

Thursday-Saturday: With impeccable timing, the smiling musical mavericks of Zeitgeist are hosting some of the Twin Cities area's most daring musicians for a three-night cabaret that coincides with the annual Arts Midwest booking conference, held this year in St. Paul. But you don't need conference credentials to come to the cabaret -- or to Zeitgeist's hip new Lowertown space. There are three performances each evening; on the menu are the string-driven quintet Mississippi Peace (7 p.m. Thu.), composer-saxophonist George Cartwright (8 p.m. Thu.), excerpts from Nautilus' "I Am Anne Frank" (8 p.m. Fri.), Minneapolis-based Janus Percussion (10 p.m. Fri.), avant-vocalist Vivienne Corringham (8 p.m. Sat.), fresh-from-the-Fringe-Festival Opera Bob (10 p.m. Sat.) and Zeitgeist itself. (Thu.-Sat. $10 per evening. Studio Z, 275 E. 4th St., Suite 200, St. Paul. 651-755-1600 or www.zeitgeistnewmusic.org.)