Tegen was born in Kent in 1988. She started to learn the violin aged seven and moved over to the viola aged 16 whilst studying both instruments with Margaret Wilkinson. During her time at school, she studied at the Kent Music Academy, was principal of the viola section of the Kent County Youth Orchestra and performed concerto movements with full orchestra.
In 2006 Tegen moved to Manchester to begin studying under Predrag Katanic and Dr Louise Lansdown at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). During her time there, she took part in masterclasses and chamber music coaching with Thomas Riebl, Nabuko Imai, Garth Knox, Tatjana Masurenko, Simon Rowland-Jones, Garfield Jackson, Marco von Pagee, Gerard Poulet, Baroque viola specialist Annette Isserlis and members of the Endellion, Skampa, Heath, Navarra and London Haydn quartets.
In the Summer of 2008, Tegen guest toured with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra which has led to her performing in workshops lead by Sir Simon Rattle. The following year, she travelled to South Africa for the 37th international viola congress held at Stellenbosch Conservatorium near Cape Town where she performed in masterclasses and concerts to international soloists from around the world. She also attended the Lionel Tertis competition in 2010, winning an award for promising performances in masterclasses.
During her postgraduate study at the RNCM, Tegen was successful in the Professional Experience Scheme where she undertook patches of work with the BBC Philharmonic. She also attended the international arts festival in Montepulciano, Italy for the last three years with the college, and travelled to Frankfurt and Leipzig to perform works by Hindemith to members of the Hindemith Institute.
Royal Northern College of Music
Manchester, UK
If you were going to be sent to a desert island, which three items would you take with you?
Cheese, Wine and Brahms.
What’s on your playlist right now?
Beyonce and a mixture of jazz and dance music. I would love to get to Ronnie Scott's more often.
If you weren’t a musician what would you be?
A tennis player or coach. I used to play tennis for my county.