On Vanguards and Renegades: The Experimental Minnesota Music Series You Need to Attend

“There have been a lot of headlines lately about how the arts are struggling in the Twin Cities, and while things are never easy, this community is overflowing with talent, creativity, ingenuity and curiosity,” Isaac Mayhew says. “I am so proud to be part of it.”

Mayhew is right — ever since the shutdown in 2020, there has been no shortage of coverage regarding floundering arts institutions of all kinds. Still, creativity runs deep here in the Twin Cities, and creatives and artists continue to find ways to share their work.

For Mayhew, that creative pursuit is in the form of RenegadeEnsemble: a collective of musicians that began in the early aughts and recently merged with the Vanguard New Music Series. Mayhew, who is a board member, helped facilitate a conversation between Lavender and several of his fellow musicians and board members, all of whom filled us in on the history of RenegadeEnsemble and the exciting sounds they are bringing to Minnesota with the Vanguard New Music Series this year.

“RenegadeEnsemble was started around 2002-2003 by a small group of graduate students at the UMN … who wanted to perform contemporary and experimental music,” says Board Secretary and founding member Alyssa Anderson. “There were no existing ensembles at the U focusing on contemporary classical music at that time.”

Initially a vocal ensemble led by choral conducting Doctoral student, Stan Rothrock, the group performed pieces by composers like Pauline Oliveros and Meredith Monk, who are known for their experimental and avant-garde styles. The intention was always to be accessible and current. Anderson reminisces, “We decided that our ‘concert wear’ would be hoodies and jeans instead of the usual concert black for classical concerts.”

The group quickly gained non-profit status, which Anderson laughingly describes as a miracle due to the youth and inexperience of everyone involved. Regardless, the group had a consistent roster of musicians and vocalists, many of whom were multi-instrumentalists.

“From the get-go, RenegadeEnsemble has been open to doing just about any kind of new music or performance art,” Anderson says. “Trying out ideas, partnering with composers and creators and artists, and sound experimentation has always been a core principle of the ensemble.”

Post-pandemic, in 2022, RenegadeEnsemble refined its mission once more. Jonathan Posthuma, Artistic Director and Board President, explains: “[We refocused our] mission towards vocal and instrumental chamber music written primarily by composers connected to Minnesota and the upper Midwest to better foster a community of local performers and audiences interested in new music.”

Part of this shift involved merging with the Vanguard New Music Series. With similar mission statements and complementary assets, it was an easy decision to combine the two.

“It was just a natural fit,” says Board Member and Vanguard New Music Series Advisory Council Chairperson Aaron Kerr. “Renegade had the history, and Vanguard had the venue … We started with just a few shows and now are up to six a year, every other month.”

Jared Coffin, a member of the Vanguard New Music Series Advisory Council, agrees. “Joining with RenegadeEnsemble came at the right time to make VNMS something bigger … Those first concerts were a bit more rag-tag — composers playing their own music, friends performing, with friends and family in the audience. Now, our ‘Composer Nights’ have some of that same energy of showcasing local composers’ works, but we also are able to partner with groups like Nyttu Chongo + The Four Crazies and Zeitgeist for a bigger diversity of concerts.”

The relationship with their venue has been equally impactful. “Our partnership with Zion Community Commons and Arts of Lafond has started to foster a new music community and audience and [is becoming] part of the broader new music ‘ecosystem’ of the Twin Cities,” Posthuma says. “We hope the series continues to connect musicians, composers, and audiences as it presents original work regularly.”

Zion is a new venue — and so much more than that. In 2023, the members of Zion Lutheran Church “looked at their building and thought it could be more,” Kerr explains. “They wanted the space to be a space for everyone — a space that would serve the whole community and not just church on Sunday … [It] is now Zion Community Commons: a public space for the common good.”

Zion hosts several arts programs, from theater to music to sound baths, and runs a food justice program three days a week.

Once again, it felt like a natural fit. “[Our ensemble is] a home for the renegades,” Posthuma says. “Just as we welcome all kinds of new music, we welcome all kinds of artists and musicians. We have had many musicians and composers from the queer community present their work through the Vanguard New Music Series …Our mission statement and tagline is inherently queer: We seek to champion the unfamiliar, the weird, the independent and the obscure musical ideas that don’t fit into the current musical landscape and connect artists and audiences interested in new music.”

Coffin agrees. “Queer folks are an integral part of the Twin Cities new music scene, and Vanguard New Music Series reflects that. Some examples of this include commissioning new works from composers like Ryann Daisy Swimmer or artists such as Emily Boyajian presenting her own works on past seasons.”

The 2025 season is off to a strong start. “We are presenting our largest series so far. Concerts will be the third Thursday of every other month,” Coffin says. “The shows have something for everyone in a variety of styles ranging from experimental electronic to world music and everything in between.”

“Our January show was off the charts with electronic works played alongside guitar, sax and tuba. It was a showcase of the best composers of the electronic genre and the best partners on their instruments,” Kerr says. “In May, the Four Crazies are returning: Nyttu Chongo (mbira and other African instruments), James Holdman (bouzouki), Tim O’Keefe (Brazilian percussion) and myself on cello — it’s our mix of instruments. Also returning are the RenegadeEnsemble vocalists in September with new works for mixed choir.”

“One of the features of this series is its eclecticism,” Mayhew says. After echoing Kerr’s recommendation of experiencing the Four Crazies in May, he continues: “If you just want a wide variety, my own group, Lemonbrass Quintet, will be performing in July, and our program will have everything from arrangements of folk tunes to aleatoric/improvised chaos. Really, the unifying force with this series is the mission to celebrate music-makers in our own backyard.”

Posthuma continues: “We want each concert to really be driven by the artists themselves. Our only ‘rule’ is that the majority of the music be written by Minnesota composers … because we want to invest in growing our local arts ecosystem. Each ensemble chooses their own music within those guidelines.”

RenegadeEnsemble shows are a blast and attending is a great way to support unique, often queer, Minnesota music. The Vanguard New Music Series has shows at Zion Community Commons on the third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. Upcoming shows and the RenegadeEnsemble website are listed below.

Zeitgeist | Sounding Ground || March 20
Nyttu Chongo + The Four Crazies || May 15
Lemonbrass || July 17
RenegadeEnsemble || September 18
Composer Night | Acoustic || November 20

renegadeensemble.org/performances