Domenick Calicchio was born in Rome in 1901. Raised in an orphanage, he began working on brass musical instruments at the age of ten. Domenick immigrated to the U.S. from Italy in the 1920’s and began making mouthpieces at the Rudy Muck instrument factory in New York.

An accomplished tool and die maker and master craftsman, he soon left Rudy Muck to design and build his own trumpets and mouthpieces. He moved his family to California where he continued to perfect the priceless art of designing and manufacturing brass instruments and mouthpieces. Domenick Calicchio spent his lifetime experimenting, refining and perfecting his designs and tooling to create optimal brass instruments and mouthpieces.

Domenick was not a musician, but by listening carefully to the performer’s sound and comments, he would strive to create and refine the instrument to suit the artists` requirements. His attention to detail and painstaking craftsmanship limited the number of instruments he made during his lifetime to under two thousand. Domenick’s goal was to assure that every instrument was better than the previous and that each artists requirements were met.

After Domenick’s passing in 1979 Domenick’s daughter, Irma carried on the family tradition of producing superb hand crafted brass instruments in limited quantities.