Tenaya Dessain

Tenaya Dessain is a 16-year-old French horn player and student at St. Charles West High School and has been playing the horn for four years. Dessain originally started as a flute player in middle school but quickly realized that the horn was the instrument she truly loved.  

Currently, Dessain performs with the Saint Louis Wind Symphony Youth Ensemble, St. Charles Community College Orchestra, University City Symphony Orchestra. This will be her first season with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. 

In addition to performing with the St. Louis All-Suburban Honors Band in middle school and high school, Dessain has also participated in the Missouri State Music Festival where she has received gold ratings for her solo horn performances. She is also heavily involved in her school band and choir programs, playing horn in the concert band, trumpet in the jazz ensemble, mellophone in the marching band, and is a soprano in the choir. 

When Dessain isn’t playing music, she enjoys working with children as a gymnastics coach. She is grateful for her teachers, family members, and her instructor, Jeffrery Leenhout, who all have supported her continued growth as a person and as a musician.