Biography
James Dunham’s rich background includes winning a Grammy Award as violist of the Cleveland Quartet and the Naumburg International Chamber Music Award as founding violist of the Sequoia String Quartet. An Historically Informed musician, he is violist of the Axelrod String Quartet at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. and appears regularly with the Bach Society Houston and Ars Lyrica Houston. In addition, his collaborations on contemporary and standard repertoire with the American, Jupiter, Pacifica, Takács and New Zealand String Quartets have taken him around the world. Mr. Dunham is an impassioned advocate of new music and is a frequent presence in national and international master classes and chamber music competition juries.
Former students serve as principal violists of the Metropolitan Opera, National Opera (Kennedy Center), Houston and San Diego Symphonies and the Orchestre National de Lille; Professorships at schools including Louisiana, Illinois, Sam Houston and Utah State Universities, the University of Arizona, and violists of celebrated ensembles including the Dover, Jasper, Rolston and Callisto String Quartets.
Summer activities include more than 25 years as an Artist-Faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School, with many past summers as a participant at festivals including the Sarasota Music Festival, Amelia Island (FL) Chamber Music Festival as well as frequent appearances at the Texas Music Festival, le Domaine Forget (Quebec), Garth Newel Center, Heifetz International Music Institute and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest.
Formerly on the faculties of the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory (where he chaired the string department and received the Louis & Adrienne Krasner Teaching Excellence Award), Mr. Dunham is Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music where he co-directs its Master of Music in String Quartet program and serves as Co-Chair of the String Department.
His recordings can be found on labels including Telarc, Innova, Nonesuch, Delos, Naxos and Crystal. www.JamesDunham.com