Biography

Thomas Stevens (1938–2018) was an American trumpeter, composer, teacher and writer whose influence extended from the orchestral stage to contemporary music, brass education and the international musical press.

Appointed to the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1965 by music director Zubin Mehta, Stevens became principal trumpet in 1972 and remained with the orchestra until his retirement in December 1999. He also served as principal trumpet with the World Orchestra for Peace, Sir Georg Solti’s hand-picked ensemble assembled in Geneva to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, and with the Casals Festival Orchestra in Puerto Rico.

Before joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Stevens served in the U.S. Army as a solo trumpeter with the West Point Band, followed by a one-year engagement with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Alongside his orchestral career, he performed and recorded as a soloist and chamber musician with major organizations worldwide, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In the early 1980s, Pierre Boulez invited him to participate in a project devoted to new brass music with the Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris. Stevens was also a founding member of the Los Angeles Brass Quintet and worked extensively in Hollywood’s recording studios.

His advocacy for contemporary trumpet music was a defining part of his career. Through performances, collaborations and premiere recordings, he helped establish works that became important additions to the solo trumpet repertoire. Among them was Luciano Berio’s Sequenza X, written specifically for him.

Stevens also made a substantial contribution to the international brass community through his writing for Brass Bulletin. His contributions spanned three decades, from 1973 to 2003, and addressed trumpet playing, teaching, repertoire, equipment and the realities of professional musical life. In articles such as The Trumpet in the USA, his tribute to James Stamp, and essays on orchestral auditions and musicianship, he brought a performer’s experience and an independent, questioning voice to readers around the world. These writings form an important part of his legacy as both a musician and an educator. Explore his contributions to Brass Bulletin.

As a composer, arranger and orchestrator, Stevens produced works performed in major concert venues and on recordings. His educational publications complemented his teaching and advocacy for musical development. He edited the definitive published version of James Stamp’s Warm-Ups and Studies for Editions Bim, as well as Stamp’s Supplemental Studies (2009). In 2011, he compiled and edited After Schlossberg, a collection of trumpet studies drawing on the pedagogical tradition that followed Max Schlossberg.

His teaching was also preserved on video. In 2016, Gossamer Wings Music released Thomas Stevens on Musicianship: Vacchiano’s Rules and Beyond, featuring excerpts from his masterclasses at the Center for Advanced Musical Studies at Chosen Vale, New Hampshire. The following year, the hour-long Thomas Stevens, The Schlossberg Workshop at Chosen Vale was made available on YouTube.

Stevens studied principally with Lester Remsen and James Stamp in Los Angeles, and William Vacchiano in New York City. He went on to teach at the University of Southern California, the California Institute of the Arts and the Music Academy of the West, while giving masterclasses and holding residencies at leading institutions internationally. His students included prominent soloists, members of major symphony orchestras and teachers at universities and conservatories. He was also a member of the founding board of directors of the International Trumpet Guild.

Following his retirement from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Stevens continued teaching throughout the United States and Europe. His engagements included repeat appointments at the Lake Placid Institute, the Center for Advanced Musical Studies at Chosen Vale and TAW Bremen in Germany, as well as a return to CalArts during the autumn term of 2008.

In 1996, the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where he had completed his undergraduate studies, named him Outstanding Alumnus of the Year. In 2007, he received a Certificate of Special Recognition from the United States Congress, together with a similar citation from the California State Senate, for “outstanding and invaluable service to the community.”

Thomas Stevens died on July 14, 2018, in Cambria, California. His recordings, compositions, teaching materials and writings preserve a lifetime devoted to music and to sharing its knowledge with others.