A Tapas Menu with CSO Winds & Strings

Name: A Tapas Menu with CSO Winds & Strings
Start: 2025-07-26T13:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-26T15:30:00-05:00
Location: Ravinia Festival

Debussy, Copland, Piazzolla & more chamber works, co-curated by Marin Alsop and Molly Yeh

Tickets

Date
July 26, 2025
Venue
Bennett Gordon Hall
Event Starts
1:30 PM
Public Gates
12:00 PM
Ticket Prices
$75
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Sat, July 26, 2025 1:30 PM Tickets

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Reserved Seat Ticket: $75

Each ticket includes pre-concert small bites curated by Breaking Barriers guest chefs in the Stepan Lobby outside Bennett Gordon Hall. Build a box of these tastings by Maneet Chauhan, Jacqueline Eng, Grace Goudie, Beverly Kim, Sarah Stegner, and Molly Yeh to bring into the performance, where each chef will introduce their culinary creation before the musical work they drew inspiration from.

More About the Pre-Concert Experience Make a Hotel Reservation for the Weekend

About the Performance

The rich variety of food and classical music in Breaking Barriers 2025 includes a smorgasbord of bite-sized chamber works. Co-curators Marin Alsop and Food Network star Molly Yeh introduce French and pan-American pieces performed by CSO musicians and guests.

Debussy’s epic-poetic portrayals of Greek mythology’s Pan, Syrinx and Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, showcase Principal Flutist Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson and other winds; the latter also features Yeh herself on percussion, in a chamber-ensemble arrangement by Néstor Bayona. Copland’s Quiet City casts English horn and trumpet as brothers wrestling with bluesy melancholy, while Piazzolla’s Libertango has the strings energetically fusing jazz and the Argentine dance. Victoria Bond’s Bridges—a work written for Assistant Principal Clarinetist John Bruce Yeh and his ensemble Birds and Phoenix—bounces with East-West fusions of folk and jazz tunes. At the concert’s center, Bernstein’s La Bonne Cuisine, a cycle of humorous songs set to recipes from a French cookbook, will feature Steans Institute Singers Program director Kevin Murphy on piano with a singer from the program.

With the concert ticket, guests are invited to build a “tapas box” with sample bites inspired by the music—created by Breaking Barriers guest chefs, who introduce the pairing before each piece’s performance—to enjoy during the concert.

Performers

Marin Alsop and Molly Yeh, hosts and co-curators

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Members and Guests

Yuan-Qing Yu, violin
Gina DiBello, violin
Kozue Funakoshi, violin
Gabriela Lara, violin
Ni Mei, violin
Hermine Gagné, violin
Florence Schwartz, violin
Sunghee Choi, viola
Kenneth Olsen, cello
Katinka Kleijn, cello
Alexander Horton, bass
Julia Coronelli, harp
Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, flute
Scott Hostetler, oboe and English horn
John Bruce Yeh, clarinet
Susanna Gaunt, French horn
Tage Larsen, trumpet
Molly Yeh, percussion

Steans Institute Musicians

Kaylyn Taylor Baldwin, soprano
Kevin Murphy, piano

Birds and Phoenix

John Bruce Yeh and Teresa Reilly, clarinets
Wang Guowei, erhu
Yang Wei, pipa

Program

Aaron Copland: Quiet City Introduction by Chef Grace Goudie
Scott Hostetler, English horn; Tage Larsen, trumpet; Strings
Nefeli Chadouli, guest conductor

Claude Debussy: Syrinx Introduction by Chef Beverly Kim
Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, flute

Leonard Bernstein: La Bonne Cuisine: Four Recipes for Voice and Piano Introduction by Chef Jacqueline Eng
Kaylyn Taylor Baldwin, soprano; Kevin Murphy, piano

Claude Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (arr. Néstor Bayona) Introduction by Chef Maneet Chauhan
Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, flute; Scott Hostetler, oboe; John Bruce Yeh, clarinet; Susanna Gaunt, horn; Julia Coronelli, harp; Molly Yeh, percussion; Strings
Marin Alsop, conductor