Sean began taking piano lessons in September of 2009, though he had been teaching himself how to play for the previous few months. After a period of lessons, Sean won a high achievers award from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2011 for achieving the highest result in all 32 counties in his gold metal recital. He was then selected from 300 hopefuls to perform at the high achievers awards ceremony in the Shelbourne Hotel, where he performed a piece by Chopin to the guests and afterwards was awarded with a certificate and gold metal. In 2013, Sean won second place at the Piano Academy of Ireland’s Senior Piano Competition, and then went on to win first prize at the Arklow Music Festival’s Open Advanced Piano Competition, where he also received the Wicklow Peoples Cup for advanced piano. Additionally, Sean has won first prize in the Rathdown Piano Festival.