Violist James Dunham’s rich background includes having been founding member of the  Naumburg Award winning Sequoia String Quartet and subsequently violist of the Grammy  Award winning Cleveland Quartet. An impassioned advocate of new music, he has premiered and  recorded many works written for him: his recording of Judith Shatin’s “Glyph” for solo viola and  piano quintet was praised by Fanfare Magazine as “reverent…beautifully, skillfully written” and  “the playing here by soloist James Dunham is stunning: resonant and vital.” American composer  Libby Larsen has written two works for Mr. Dunham and his colleagues: the Sonata for Viola and Piano (2001) and the song cycle “Sifting Through the Ruins” (2005) for mezzo-soprano, viola  and piano. Both appear on the CD “Circle of Friends” by Libby Larsen. In addition, he was a co commissioner of Larsen’s “Ferlinghetti” (2014) for clarinet, viola and piano. And in 2018 Mr.  Dunham was one of only seven violists selected by composer John Harbison to be the first invited  to perform his “80th Birthday” Sonata for Viola and Piano! 

A frequent guest with ensembles such as the American, Jupiter, Pacifica and Takács Quartets, Mr.  Dunham served as violist of the Axelrod String Quartet for 17 years, in residence at the  Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. where the group performed on their collection of  Niccolò Amati and Stradivari instruments.  

Highlights of recent seasons include performing the Shostakovich Viola Sonata with pianist  Vladimir Feltsman, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Queen Elisabeth Competition laureate Will Hagen, and a three-week tour of their home country with the New Zealand String Quartet.  He has appeared as Guest Artist and recitalist at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” in Leipzig, Germany, followed by multiple performances at the Aspen  Music Festival, including quintets with the Takács and American String Quartets. Mr. Dunham is  featured regularly in concerts, master classes and competition juries throughout the U.S. and  abroad, adjudicating twice for the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, as a Senior  Division juror for the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and for the 2026 Stulberg  International String Competition. 

Mr. Dunham is Joseph and Ida Kirkland Mullen Professor of Viola at Rice University’s Shepherd  School of Music where he also serves as String Department Co-Chair. Formerly on the faculty of  California Institute of the Arts and the Eastman School of Music, he chaired the String  Department at the New England Conservatory of Music for six years where he received the Louis  & Adrienne Krasner Teaching Excellence Award. 

Summer activities include more than 25 years as an Artist-Faculty at the Aspen Music Festival  and School, with many past summers as a participant at festivals including the Sarasota Music  Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival (FL) 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. In Houston he is heard regularly in  concert with Chamber Music Houston, Da Camera of Houston, Ars Lyrica Houston, and the  Houston Bach Society.  

His recordings can be found on labels including Telarc, Innova, Nonesuch, Delos, Naxos and  Crystal. www.JamesDunham.com