Ravinia 2025 Issue 4

“ Listening to music and watching the sky—when I came to Ravinia, it felt like coming home to that concept … some people really go wild with their picnics. That gusto was a big inspiration for pursuing this theme. ” –Marin Alsop Molly Yeh spent many summers at Ravinia growing up in the Chicago area. In addition to hosting Girl Meets Farm , Yeh is the chef/owner of Bernie’s bakery and café in Minnesota, where she and her husband have a farm. likely to be the most popular yet, given its inspired culinary spin. When Ravinia CEO Jeff Haydon con- tacted Yeh last summer to see if she was interested in helping to plan it, “I could not have said yes any sooner,” the chef enthuses. “Ravinia is my happy place. Some of the best and most formative parts of my summers as a kid were at Ravinia, and I would do anything to get back there more often.” Her strong affinity for the institu- tion contributed to making Yeh such a natural choice for the role of Breaking Barriers co-curator. She’s notched an im- pressive array of accomplishments in the realms of both food and music. Her ex- tensive gastronomic experience doesn’t just include her TV show; she lives on a sugar beet and wheat farm in northern Minnesota and runs a bakery-cafe called Bernie’s. But she’s also a Juilliard-trained classical percussionist who’s performed with ensembles around the world. “She has the right brief, totally,” Alsop says. Meanwhile, Molly’s father, John Bruce Yeh, is a longtime CSO clarinet- ist, which explains the many summer evenings spent here in her youth. No wonder that Yeh has, in her words, “so many amazing memories of Ravin- ia from growing up: eating bologna Lunchables on the picnic blanket with my parents before concerts; my dad yell- ing at people around us if they started smoking (you could smoke at Ravinia back then!); getting yelled at for climb- ing on the sculptures (sorry, they are just so climbable!); eating the creamiest chocolate ice cream from the Carousel; and then changing into footie pajamas and passing out on the Lawn before the concert was over. “When I got a little older, I could truly appreciate the music,” she adds. “I consider lying on the Lawn and staring up at the stars while the CSO played a Mahler symphony to be one of the greatest life experiences of all time.” “I’ve met Molly a couple times, at different concerts,” Alsop says. “Real- ly I’m mostly familiar with her from Food Network, because I love to watch her show. Until John told me, I didn’t really put two and two together. Then I thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be fun to bring her skills to the table?’ And also to have RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 7 CHANTELL&BRETTQUERNEMOEN