Mia Reilley is the daughter of Teresa Reilly and John Yeh. John is the reason for her daughter’s fame since he is a famed clarinetist. He has worked for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1977 as the assistant clarinetist and E-flat clarinetist. Yeh is also the director and co-founder of Chicago Pro Musica. The group’s first recording Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, received a Grammy Award for Best New Classical Artist in 1985.
Please keep reading to learn more about John Yeh and his daughter’s life in the limelight.
Mia Reilley-Yeh Early Life
Unfortunately, there isn’t any information about Mia’s childhood. Her date of birth, schools she attended, where she lives and her details are not recorded on the web. Mia has two siblings from her father’s first marriage, Molly and Jenna. Molly is a cookbook author, blogger, and host of the Food Network cooking show Girl Meets Farm.
Mia Reilley-Yeh’s Mother
Like her father, Mia’s mother, Teresa Reilly, is a clarinetist, having earned her Master of Music in Clarinet Performance from Northwestern University. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Music from DePaul University, having studied with her ex-husband John Bruce Yeh.
Teresa has performed in diverse concerts, including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Fontana Chamber Arts concert series, St. James Cathedral concert series, and La Jolla Music Society SummerFest. Teresa co-formed Birds and Phoenix, an innovative quartet whose goal is to bridge the Eastern and Western musical cultures.
Teresa performs regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and some other ensembles. She has performed as a guest soloist with many ensembles in the Midwest. She is also a music educator, having worked at DePaul University, The People Music School, the Merit School of Music, and the New Music School in Chicago.
Mia Reilley-Yeh’s Father
John Bruce Yeh was born in Washington DC and grew up in Los Angeles, California. His father was a scientist and a singer; his mother was a scientist and a pianist.
Yeh studied at UCLA as a pre-med student and played in local chamber music ensembles and youth symphonies. He transferred to the Juilliard School in New York City after two years at UCLA.
In 1977 aged 19, Yeh was hired as a solo bass clarinetist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. After two years, he was appointed assistant principal and E-flat clarinetist, a position he has held to date.
Yeh was a founding member of the New York New Music Ensemble. In 1979, he founded Chicago Pro Musica, a chamber ensemble, and remains its director. The ensemble’s first recording was L’Histoire du Soldat by Stravinsky, winning the 1985 Grammy Award for the Best New Classical Artist. Yeh also co-founded the visual-musical quartet INVENTIONS.
Yeh’s first wife was Jody Yeh, and they have two daughters, Molly and Jenna. He is married to Teresa Reilly, a clarinetist, with whom he has a daughter, Mia, who is featured in this post. Yeh, his daughter Molly, and his wife perform together on Synergy, an album released in the Naxos Wind Band Classics series by Naxos Records.
Wrapping Up
Mia’s life has been kept on the low compared to that of her half-sisters and parents. Whether she became a clarinetist like her parents remains a mystery.
