Soloists 

Bokyung (Nina) Park is a senior at Ridge High School. She has been playing the piano since the age of 5, and has won many international and national awards including the New York International Classical Music Competition, the American International Music Talent Search, the Vivo International Music Competition and the Camerata International Music Competition. Last year, she was the winner of the New Jersey Youth Symphony Concerto Competition and performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 with their full orchestra. 

Nina’s interest in music ranges wide and deep, and she strives to explore a variety of genres in her different ensembles. She is the principal pianist of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, the Ridge High School Jazz Band and the Ridge High School Drama Club Pit Orchestra. In 2022, the orchestra was rewarded with the Rising Stars Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra Award for their production of “Newsies”.

Nina strives to integrate her passion for music with her other wide-ranging interests. As the founder and president of the international student-led non-profit Neurodiversity Ambassadors, she provides weekly music lessons to children with autism at a local YMCA. She also performs with the Bernards Ensemble, a local group of musicians with the mission of bringing music to people with special needs, as a pianist and a flutist. In 2023, she was awarded with the Mayor’s Arts Award for her exemplary leadership in and dedication to the performing arts in Bernards Township. Nina will be attending Georgetown University, majoring in Neurobiology and Global Health in the Pre-Med track, while pursuing music in the school ensemble. 

Minji Kim is a senior at Ridge High School. She started learning the violin at the age of seven. She had been studying violin with Bela Horvath at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege, where she has received named scholarships such as the Kate Bamberger Memorial scholarship, the Hansoree scholarship, and Precollege Parents Scholarship. At MSM, she won the second prize of the Repertory Strings Concerto competition and performed in master classes with Grigory Kalinovsky and Mihaela Martin. Recently, she held her senior recital and graduated from the Manhattan School of Music Precollege after seven years of attendance.

She has won numerous competitions and performed at famous venues such as Carnegie and Merkin Hall. Recently she won first prize in the VIVO International Music Competition, the Great Composers Competition, the Rondo Young Artist Vanguard Competition, the New York International Music Concour, the Charleston International Music Competition, the “London” Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition. She was the Grand Prix medal winner in the Young Maestro International Music Competition. 

In the past, she attended the Heifetz Institute PEG program for three consecutive summers. Last summer in 2023, she participated in the Bowdoin International Music Festival, where she studied with Itamar Zorman.

At Ridge High School, she serves as the concertmaster in the Symphony Orchestra. Minji holds leadership positions in various clubs such as American Sign Language club, Tri-M Music Honor Society, and Ridge Productions. 

This fall, she will be attending the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University under the tutelage of Professor Paul Kantor.