Staff & faculty

Desiree Overree is the Director of Orchestras at Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas. Since its opening in 2005, the program has grown to 250+ string players over eight performance ensembles. By 2007, the Seven Lakes Sinfonia Orchestra was ranked as one of the top six string orchestras in Texas in the TMEA Honor Orchestra Competition. The Symphony Orchestra has also ranked as one of the top ten orchestras in the same competition, since 2011. They were crowned the TMEA Honor Full Orchestra in 2016, winning the equivalency of the state championship, and won this distinction again in 2020. Most recently, the Symphony Strings won the title of Honor String Orchestra for 2024. Since 2015, both the Seven Lakes Sinfonia and Symphony Orchestras have been named National Orchestra Winners for the Mark of Excellence from the Foundation of Music Education. In 2018, ensembles from Seven Lakes were selected to perform at Music for All’s National Festival. In 2018, 2021, and 2023  the Symphony Orchestra was named the winner of the American Prize in Music. The Sinfonia Orchestra earned second place in 2018 and third place in 2024.

She has been recognized in “Who’s Who Among American High School Teachers,” awarded Katy ISD’s Excellence in Teaching Award multiple times, and has been recognized as an Educator of Distinction by the National Society of High School Scholars. In 2011, she was awarded the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award: only 50 educators are awarded this honor in the United States every two years. In 2015, she was selected as a University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award winner. In 2023, she was selected by the American Prize in Music as an Honored Artist. Honored Artists are individuals (or ensembles) who have proven themselves to be of “sustained excellence” over a number of seasons as laureates of The American Prize competitions.

She is frequently invited as an adjudicator, presenter, clinician, and conductor, and is an active freelancer. She holds professional memberships in Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Texas Orchestra Directors Association, and Mu Omicron, and proudly serves Texas Music Educators Association as the President of Region 23. Outside of Texas, she serves as an Educational Consultant for Music for All.

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