World Assembly Body Opera, Maya Keren (Slow Burn release show), Ricki Weinenhof
Studio 34
4522 Baltimore Ave.
Philadelphia
March 20, 2026
As far as cozy, comfortable, creative venues go – let’s call them the three C’s – in Philly, you can’t hit the mark more dead-on than Studio 34, a bright, colorful space that hosts all sorts of community events, functioning not just as an arts-and-music venue gathering site but as host to yoga meet-ups, not to mention a massage studio. There’s art everywhere on its walls and its one main hallway, with the current work mostly coming from “FUN-A-DAY Philadelphia," an awesome annual community art project whose prompt was simple: “Do something fun every day for the month of January, and then bring it to Studio 34 in early February for a big two-day event, after which we re-configure the show for a display that's up through the end of March.” (Check it out while you still can!) This show coincided with the release of a new album from Maya Keren, a Philly native now calling Brooklyn home. Joined by Jeff Gordon on second guitar, they were marvelous, a sweet-voiced singer with sparsely-arranged, sophisticated, jazzy melodies and richly-voiced chords, a happy discovery for me somewhere between Chet Baker and Dear Nora. (It was also Keren’s mom’s birthday, who was in attendance; shouts out to The Frosted Fox for the excellent passion-fruit-curd cake.)
As much as I love music on its own, there are itches it alone just can’t scratch, parts of the body, mind and spirit it doesn’t reach with the same laser focus or strength as other art forms. That’s why there’s such a special power to seeing a performer who is a more multi-disciplinary artist, who weaves in the theatrical, the visual, the poetic. If the bleakness and anxiety of modern life sometimes makes art-making or show-going feel like a frivolity we can’t afford, it takes special artists to not only cut through the noise but to show us a mode, a way of being and existing, that carves a way forward or gives an insight to what life at its fullest might look and feel like. I felt that way, unabashedly, watching World Assembly Body Opera perform. Led by Mason McAvoy, singing and playing clarinet, the ensemble – Koof Ibi on trumpet, Lauren Wilson on vocals and percussion, Timothy Hagen on drums, and Ricki Weidenhof on cello (who also opened the show, with a solo set that was a smart, adventurous blend of Ableton-enabled tracks, cello and singing) – put forth an arresting performance, a blend of music, poetry, improvisation, storytelling and theater that felt singular in its execution and its patient development of ideas, never racing to unearned payoffs but luxuriating in sound, rhythm and texture. I imagined Spirit of Eden-era Talk Talk fronted by Matana Roberts; whether laying into a mesmerizing groove – Ibi’s electronically-processed muted trumpet swirling through the empty spaces of Hagen’s beat, McAvoy’s looping percussive breaths and the cello deliciously sliding into long, blue notes – or conducting the band during free-time sections, singing with arms gesticulating like waves, McAvoy guided the ensemble through an unfailingly compelling, edge-of-my-seat set. Even the rough-around-the-edges moments only highlighted the special aliveness of the work they were sharing.
McAvoy has unteachable charm and presence on stage; she’s a regular performer at Studio 34 and, for my money, is unmistakably one of Philly’s most vibrant young artists. A prolific composer, performer and improviser in projects like Foreland Basin and Pisces, among others, she already displays, as a group leader, a real command and poise. World Assembly Body Opera is already, in the early goings, a bold channeler of uncommon beauty. I’m psyched to see it continue to grow and develop.
