An afternoon that highlights the artistic talents of youth is planned for Oct. 6 where presentations of music, poetry and song will take place at 3 p.m. in St. Catharine Church, 3rd and Essex Avenues, Spring Lake.

The afternoon, which is part of the parish’s ongoing Spirituality and the Arts program, will feature a music concert with cellist Christy Choi and her accompanist, Na Yeon Kim. They will perform works from Kabalevksy, Mendelssohn, Martinu and others.

Poetry will feature the works of the 2019 winners of the Court St. Elizabeth Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Avon, who will recite their original poems on this year’s theme, “Here I Am Lord, I Come to Do Your Will.” Ann Maria Moloney, a sixth grader from St. Rose Grammar School, Belmar, will read her poem, “The Lord’s Will,” while Michael Child, a eighth grader in St. Catharine School, wrote “Lord, I Am Your Light.” Also scheduled to perform is the youth ensemble from St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish with music director, Dr. Jarred Tafaro, piano, and other instrumentalists.

Choi, 16, started her cello studies at age seven. She made her debut playing the Haydn Cello Concerto with the Sao Paulo University Orchestra at Teatro Municipal in Brazil. Ever since, she has played solos with orchestras in noted halls throughout Brazil which includes Sala Sao Paulo and Teatro Engenho de Piracicaba.

Choi has additional experience playing with orchestras and chamber music groups in Latin America, Europe, Asia and the U.S. In 2017, she won the Manhattan International Competition and the N.Y. International Competition. She has played in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center, and is a student at Juilliard Pre-College, where she currently studies under Clara Kim.

In 2018, Choi won the Elite International Music Competition and the Vivo International Competition Grand Prize. This year, she performed at the Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Music Center and won the CAI Competition and performed with the CNJ Orchestra. She also won first place in the N.J. Suburban Music Study Club 2019 Grace Gimbel Young Artist Scholarship Competition.

She has attended several prestigious institutes including, Meadowmount School of Music in New York; the Heifetz International Institute; Piracicaba Music Festival in Brazil; Music Cello Camp in Korea, and the National Cello Institute in California

Choi's accompanist, Na Yeon Kim, has served as a collaborative staff pianist at Juilliard Pre-College since 2017. She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory, the Seoul National University and the Hartt School of Music where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music and an artist diploma under worldwide concert pianist, Hae Sun Paik.

Kim, was the recipient of several highly prestigious competitions and awards including the Eumak Journal Korea, the Germany Brahms Association and the Piano Society of Korea. She has participated in the Busan Music Festival, International Keyboard Festival in New York and Beijing International Music Festival.

Concert organizer Michaline Manno, who is a parishioner of St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish, noted that Choi is the sixth Grace Gimbel young artist to perform in St. Catharine Church. The Suburban Music Study Club of NJ was founded in 1899 in Essex County. In 1980, it moved to the Chase Room of the Madison Library. Morning concerts for its members and the public are presented on the second Thursday of each month from October to May. Manno, has chaired the competition since 2000 and, consequently, is able to arrange for the winners to perform in St. Catharine Church.

A free-will offering for the program will benefit St. Catharine-St. Margaret’s music ministry. For information, call 732-988-1661 or email [email protected].