The LA TROMBA Professional Model series of piston valve B flat and C trumpets are the result of Richard Carson Steuart`s earnest desire to build excellent trumpets to meet his own artistic needs as a International Soloist and Chamber Musician from Baroque to Jazz.  He wanted to combine the characteristics of a full "?"symphonic sound" in all registers with an extremely free "blowing", "flexible" trumpet, possessing excellent intonation and a very light response.
Parallel to the development of his own LA TROMBA trumpets, Richard Carson Steuart worked closely in a co-operative research, design and development capacity as "Artistic Representative" with Kanstul Brass Instruments of Anaheim, California U.S.A.. From 1996 through to 1999 he was given responsibility by Zigmant Kanstul personally, to design a "combination" Piccolo Trumpet instrument namely the Bb-A-G which was first presented in the Fall of 1997 at the "Mid-West Band Conference" in Chicago, U.S.A. and then in Europe in March of 1998 at the "Frankfurt Messe"(the Frankfurt International Music-Fair).

Corresponding LA TROMBA Rotary-valve Mouthpieces were conceptualized parallel to the development of these trumpets. This aspect will be more closely described later in this expos?©.

To this end La Tromba has experimented with, among other time tested innovations, the use of pure-copper, instead of the commonly used brass, for the more important "acoustical- resonating" components of the trumpet.
Experiments with the use of resonating plates in both the bell-bow and tuning-slide-bow of LA TROMBA Trumpets have proven that an added stability of the tone-"center" as well an ability to project the sound with less effort is the result as well as an improvement in the general tone fullness and the players endurance. The use of copper for the bell, lead pipe and tuning slide on some models has as well proven to be very important in helping to meet these objectives.

In the development of both the new LA TROMBA Professional And the Student Model trumpet line it has been repeatedly confirmed that apart from its high visual attractivity and excellent resonating properties copper ensures superior durability especially in the leadpipe and thus making it a viable alternative material to Brass and gold-brass especially when knowledgeably combined with  other yellow-brass trumpet components.

The LA TROMBA "Super-Soloist" trumpet model was created to serve the needs of "soloists" who wish to, with just one trumpet but in four keys, perform the works of Bach, Händel, Telemann, Haydn, Hummel, Torrelli and many, many , more Baroque and Classical compositions for the trumpet in their "original" keys. Without difficult transpositions or even more importantly the loss of "resonating lower overtones" so paramount to the character of the tone, the soloist is free to relax into a full, warm overtone-rich trumpet sound and concentrate on expression in a dialogue with the chosen accompanying body.

This D-Eb-E-F trumpet has "lead-pipe" tuning, with four corresponding lead pipes, four screw -changeable bells and of course a complete sets of valves-slides for each key. This guarantees perfect intonation as well as preserving the necessary balance between the conicality and cylindricality of the trumpet. The building of true a "multi-keyed" instrument is, with patients and knowledge, very practical and very possible as Mr. Steuart has previously proven by his creative design of the Bb-A-G piccolo trumpet.

 After an hour of intensive trial and playing-scrutiny in an separate and quiet "testing room" at the 2000 ETG conference in Bad Säckingen, Prof. Max Sommerhalder of the Detmolder Hochschule für Musik gave his personal congratulations to Mr. Steuart for his achievement in the creation of the LA TROMBAï?¢ "Super-Soloist" D-Eb-E-F trumpet.

After decades of carefull, acoustical and structural study as well as personal professional application, Richard Carson Steuart has condensed his experience and that of numbers of his colleagues to develop the LA TROMBAï?¢ trumpet line. Having personally performed with the best professional instruments made by the "top" American manufactories (primarely the instruments of Renold Schilke, Vincent Bach, C. G. Conn, F.E. Olds and Eldon Benge) in a variety of most all possible musical ensembles from Big Band, Recording-Studio and Jazz Combo over Brass Quintet and large Brass Ensemble to Symphonic Concert Band, Grand Opera and most critically Symphony Orchestra over the last 40 years of his musical career Mr. Steuart was destined to build trumpets that would meet the needs of top professional players from BOTH the Symphonic and Jazz idioms.

Who is playing La Tromba Trumpets in Europe?

Marc Ullrich, one of Europe"s most versatile "all-round players" performed as a soloist at the I.T.G.- conference 1999. He is the Principal-trumpet of the Basel, Switzerland Symphony Orchestra and is famous as a virtuoso in a wide range of musical directions from authentic Baroque Trumpet performance, the "modern French solo-trumpet repertoire" to Mainstream- and Be-Bop Jazz.

Mr. Ullrich visited the LA TROMBA display-stand at the I.T.G. conference, and decided to take three different La Tromba trumpets and matching LA TROMBA mouthpieces to test "on the job". After two months of testing, he reported a great deal of very positive comments from both his Symphonic and Jazz colleagues (as well as his concert public) and he decided to buy a LA TROMBA trumpet.

The model Mr. Ullrich chose has a copper bell, leadpipe and two tuning-slide bows, one angular with a resonance plate and one round without a brace or resonating plate. He bought as well a heavy LA TROMBA mouthpiece and mouthpiece-receiver. Mr. Ullrich`s comment with regards to the LA TROMBA trumpet and LA TROMBA mouthpiece combination is, quote, "GENIAL!"

After hearing the Trumpet Ensemble in three separate "Concert Events" during the I.T.G. conference, Dr. Edward H.Tarr, the host of the Euro-ITG-1999, Professor of Trumpet at the Basel Music Academy, and Director of the Bad Säckingen Trumpet Museum, promptly invited the Ensemble back to play an even greater role in the "festivities" at the next ITG conference in November 2000!

Dr. Tarr, himself a pioneer in the revival of the "Art of Baroque Trumpet Playing" as well as Concert performance on a number of other historical instruments of the 17th, 18th and 19th century, complimented the ensemble especially with regards to the groups homogenous tone-quality and intonation! He sited these as the two most important aspects in ensemble performance and of course correspondingly trumpet design and manufacturing.
Dr. Tarr went so far as to rate the ensemble as "among the very best of the trumpet ensembles that had taken part in the November 1999 conference".

The LA TROMBA Trumpet, Cornet and Flugelhorn series were first researched, developed and thereafter introduced in the first week of November, 1999 in Hamburg, Germany at the annual "Brass Gipfel" (Brass Summit). One week later the instruments were played by the Trumpet Section of the Prince-Bishop of Wuerzburg's Wind-Ensemble ("Trompeten Ensemble des Fürstbischöfliche Bläserconsortium zu Würzburg") at the European Trumpet Guild (ETG) Conference, in Bad Säckingen, with Richard Carson Steuart as both its Director and Solotrumpeter. The ensemble performed amoug others works three original compositions written for them by the contemporary composers Helmut M. Timpelan (Germany), Peter Lawrence (England) and Valery Struckov (Russia). These new works were performed by the trumpeters on a varieity of LA TROMBA trumpet models from the "Proto Type" Bb-A-G-Piccolo and Symphonic Eb Piston Valve trumpets to the all new Bb-Flat and C- Rotary-Valve Trumpet models.  Since the Fall of 1998 Mr. Steuart has created his own La Tromba "Heavy" version of the Bb-A-G piccolo trumpet and in the Spring of 1999 presented it as well the completely revolutionary La Tromba D-Eb-E-F "Super-Soloist" trumpet at the International Trumpet Guild (ITG) conference in Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.   Beginning in the fall of 2000 Mr. Steuart has continually developed his own line of both Piston-valve and Rotary-valve Bb and C trumpets. The later of these truly handmade trumpets boast an all gold-brass construction with an independent trigger-tuning system first and third-valve slide triggers and promise excellent intonation as well as an authentic Traditional German tone character. These Trumpets have the internationally accaimed Bernhard Zirnbaur Rotary -valves ... made in Germany.