Biography

Violinist Sean Riley maintains a career throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as a performer, entrepreneur and educator. As a solo artist he was given the honor to perform for King Charles at his 65th birthday celebration and the Sultan of Oman in London in a special evening performance at the Savoy Hotel. His work has been featured globally through media outlets such as the Discovery Channel, Mashable and Quartz and was a featured soloist on a Netflix original soundtrack. Sean's interest in innovative methods of communication and entrepreneurialism has led him to create performance training programs at the Royal College of Music, teach communication and leadership as a professor at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, and create an award winning project where he 3D printed a six-string electric violin to play John Adams’s concerto “The Dharma at Big Sur.” 

As an educator Sean has held a professorship at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where he utilised Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process to develop communication and leadership skills amongst musicians. He was a graduate teaching assistant in contemporary music at the Royal College of Music and currently holds the role of Teaching Assistant to Brian Lewis at the University of Texas, Austin. Riley authored two online units for a blended-learning course on the Practice of Music Making jointly delivered by the Open University and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance on the topics of Artistic Identity and Social Media Marketing in the Arts. 

Sean holds both bachelors and masters degrees in violin performance from The Juilliard School as well as an artist diploma and Master in Philosophy on the subject of performance training and peer communication in higher music education from the Royal College of Music, London. His teachers have included Radu Blidar, Kyung-Wha Chung, Hyo Kang, Roland and Almita Vamos and Brian Lewis. Sean the recipient of the Williamson Foundation of Music annual grant, Rayne Foundation grant, Donald Paterson Award and the Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal and the Rainwater Innovation Grant.