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ARDORA TRIO
Meet the Ardora Trio
ABOUT THE ARDORA TRIO
The Ardora Trio features violinist Jessica Ryou, cellist Sean Hawthorne, and pianist Jean Park—three accomplished musicians united by their ardor for chamber music.
Jessica Ryou is a member of the first violin section of the North Carolina Symphony. She has her Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and her Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California.
Sean Hawthorne is an active performing cellist and educator who most recently served as Assistant Professor of Cello at East Tennessee State University. Sean received his Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University in 2018, after having earned a Bachelor’s Degree from The Juilliard School and a Master’s Degree from the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague.
Jean Park is an accomplished pianist and dedicated educator. She serves on the piano faculty at both Duke University and Meredith College. She received her Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music and her Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University.
The Ardora Trio made their public debut in the spring of 2024 as part of the North Raleigh Concert Series at North Raleigh United Methodist Church. They have since been featured on White Memorial Presbyterian Church’s the Sounds on Oberlin Concert Series, as well as at Carol Woods, the Cypress of Raleigh, North Raleigh United Methodist Church, and other venues throughout the Triangle.
Jessica Ryou has cultivated a versatile musical career as an orchestral violinist, chamber musician, educator, soloist, and studio musician. She was appointed to the first violin section of the North Carolina Symphony in 2022.
Jessica is a founding member of the Ardora Trio, a piano trio based in the Triangle. She is a regularly featured artist at Bargemusic, New York City’s floating concert hall, where she performs chamber and solo works ranging from classical music to contemporary premiers, collaborating with a diverse group of talented artists. She maintains a private studio in Raleigh as a violin instructor, and enjoys working with local young musicians as a coach at the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute. During the summers, Jessica teaches and performs as a faculty artist at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Before her time in North Carolina, Jessica was the adjunct violin professor at East Tennessee State University and served as the assistant concertmaster of the Symphony of the Mountains. She performed as a regularly featured artist with the Paramount Chamber Players in Bristol, Virginia.
As part of her orchestral training, Jessica spent two years as a violin fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. During her fellowship, she served as concertmaster under conductors such as Stéphane Denève and Pablo Heras-Casado, and worked with renowned composers such as John Adams and Steve Reich. Before her time in Florida, Jessica was a member of the violin sections of the Akron Symphony Orchestra and the Canton Symphony Orchestra. She has served as concertmaster for numerous orchestras and summer festivals including the Symphony of the Mountains, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Jessica was featured as a soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra for two years, performing the DvoÅ™ák Violin Concerto and the Moszkowski Suite for Two Violins.
Equally at home in the recording studio as in the concert hall, Jessica has collaborated extensively with Grammy award-winning crossover cellist Dave Eggar to record for film studios and record labels such as Netflix, Dreamworks, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. She has recorded solo violin tracks for acclaimed artists like John Legend, Lewis Capaldi, and the Stone Temple Pilots. You can hear Jessica and Dave replicate the sounds of a full string orchestra on hit songs such as John Legend’s “Stardust”, Lewis Capaldi’s “Any Kind of Life”, and Ricky Montgomery’s “Talk To You- strings”.
Jessica earned her Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and her Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California. Her primary instructors were William Preucil, Margaret Batjer, and Henry Gronnier. During her free time Jessica enjoys traveling, eating new foods, hiking, and backcountry camping.
Sean Hawthorne has gained international recognition for his achievements as a chamber musician, orchestral musician, soloist and educator. He was appointed as the Assistant Professor of Cello at East Tennessee State University in 2018 where he served until 2023. Sean received his DMA from Stony Brook University in 2018, after having earned a Bachelor’s Degree from The Juilliard School and a Master’s Degree from the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. His primary teachers were Richard Aaron, Michel Strauss and Colin Carr.
Sean has enjoyed an active and far-reaching orchestral career performing with orchestras such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, the Royal Philharmonic in London, and the Residentie Orkest in The Hague. He served as principal cellist of the National Repertory Orchestra for two years, during which time he was featured twice as a soloist, performing Strauss’s Don Quixote and Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. In 2014, Sean was selected as the Institute for Orchestral Studies cello apprentice with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under Maestro Pinchas Zukerman. He has also been a member of several renowned summer festival orchestras, including the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra and the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Sean has collaborated with musicians such as Colin Carr, Arnaud Sussmann, Jennifer Frautschi, and members of the Emerson String Quartet. He has been a featured artist in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Dr. Anton Philipszaal in The Hague, and Casa da Música in Porto. Sean regularly performs as a featured artist at Bargemusic in New York City. He has also served as a guest chamber artist/recitalist at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Ball State University, Middle Tennessee State University, South Texas College, and Carson Newman University.
As a teacher, Sean has held positions at Stony Brook University and Eastern Music Festival. He has given masterclasses at universities across the country including Shenandoah University, the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Ball State University. Sean was also a sought-after teacher for young cello students in the New York area, serving as cello instructor at the Herald Music School, the Joyous Music School and the Music Academy of Long Island. Students of Sean’s have been accepted into acclaimed music programs, such as the Juilliard Pre-College program.
Pianist Jean Park is active as a performer, teacher, and adjudicator. She has performed throughout the United States and internationally, including Norway, Sweden, Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
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Originally from Seattle, Jean earned her undergraduate degree in music from the University of Washington. She continued her studies in New York City, completing a Master of Music in Piano Performance at the Manhattan School of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University, where she studied with Gilbert Kalish and also served as piano teaching assistant.
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Jean has received competition prizes and scholarship awards, including first place in the graduate division of the Schubert Club Competition. She has been featured on WSMR Radio with a live solo performance and contributed to the soundtrack of the film Don't Let the Night End on Amazon Prime Video. A recent performance highlight was her solo recital Around the World in 88 Keys at the Cary Arts Center, which featured piano works from six continents.
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An avid chamber musician, Jean enjoys performing with the Ardora Trio and has collaborated with many faculty artists and colleagues from the San Antonio Philharmonic and North Carolina Symphony. She also occasionally performs with the North Carolina Symphony, in works such as Fossils from Carnival of the Animals and Sarah Gibson's Warp and Weft. Jean also enjoys coaching chamber ensembles for the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute.
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As a teacher, Jean has given masterclasses at institutions such as the Texas State International Piano Festival, Stony Brook University, the Cary Apex Piano Teachers Association, and others. She has served on the boards of the Piano Teachers Congress of New York, the San Antonio Music Teachers Association, and the Cary-Apex Piano Teachers Association. Jean is also a sought-after adjudicator, serving on panels for competitions such as Duke University's Concerto Competition, Texas State University's Concerto and Aria Competition, the Texas Music Teachers Association Student Affiliate Performance Contest, and more.
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Dr. Jean Park previously served as piano faculty at the University of the Incarnate Word and San Antonio College. She is currently piano faculty at Duke University and Meredith College.
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