American composer Thomas Stevens (b. 1938) studied the trumpet and composition at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. As a trumpeter he has worked in a number of leading orchestras, among them the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta; he also performs together with the finest brass players. At first he arranged pieces for big band, but since 1970 he has mostly composed original music for his own instrument.