The Stulberg Competition Master Classes have been a core part of the organization ever since its inception. Each year, these master classes are held the day before the Stulberg Competition. These master classes provide an opportunity for local students, musicians, and audiences to observe and learn from the very same artists that serve as judges for the Stulberg Competition.
Applications Open: March 2nd, 2026
Application Deadline: April 5th, 2026
One of the most outstanding Chinese-American violinists, Suli Xue enjoys an active career on today’s international music stage. He is a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, president of the Schoenfeld International Music Society, president and artistic director of the Schoenfeld International String Competition, artistic director of the Hong Kong International Music Festival, artist in residence at the Azusa Pacific University, former professor of violin at the USC Thornton School of Music, and former concertmaster of the China National Symphony Orchestra. He is also the winner of two Gold Medals of Global Music Awards. Xue has earned high acclaim around the world for his unique artistry.
Xue graduated from USC Thornton School of Music and Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He was a protégé of world-renowned violin professor Alice Schoenfeld. Xue has been frequently invited as a guest artist and faculty to teach and perform at International Music Festivals in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has also served as a juror for numerous international music competitions. Many of his students won first prize of international music competitions. Mr. Xue performed as a soloist with the YMF Debut Orchestra and the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra for their New Year’s Concert Tour in China, and Pacific Symphony Orchestra for their Chinese New Year’s concert.
Recently, he has participated in many important performances as a soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Summer Music Festival, and others. In 2014, Xue introduced the Schoenfeld International String Competition to Harbin. In 2017, the competition joined the United Nations ESCO “World Federation of International Music Competitions,” fortifying and promoting music cultural exchange internationally. In August 2017, Mr. Suli Xue collaborated with maestro Zubin Mehta as a soloist and concertmaster to perform in the gala symphony concert at the Harbin China-Russia Cultural and Arts Festival. Maestro Mehta described Xue as “a brilliant violinist and outstanding leader that performs with virtuosic musicality.”
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
Cellist Anne Francis Bayless has been a member of the internationally acclaimed Fry Street Quartet since 2000. Performing both the masterpieces of the classical canon and new works from visionary contemporary composers, the FSQ has honed a “blend of technical precision
and scorching spontaneity” (The Strad). Since claiming the Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the quartet has captivated audiences worldwide, from New York to London, Sarajevo, and Jerusalem, pushing the boundaries of the string
quartet with “profound understanding…depth of expression, and stunning technical astuteness” (Deseret Morning News). The quartet’s touring history includes appearances at prestigious venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, The New School, and Rockefeller University in New York, Guarneri Hall and the Jewel Box Series in Chicago, Chamber Music Columbus, the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, The Theosophical Society in London, the
Mozart Gemeinde in Klagenfurt, Austria, and China’s Fujian Grand Theatre, Xiaoshan Grand Theatre, and Shanghai Oriental Art Center. They also enjoy an ongoing residency with the Salt Lake City-based NOVA series, where they serve as Artistic Partners and Quartet-in-Residence.
The Fry Street Quartet has amassed a significant catalog of commissioned works by diverse composers, many contributing to a growing collection of compositions focused on the
sustainability crisis and nature. Premieres in the last two seasons include works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Laura Kaminsky, Nicolás Lell Benavides, Aakash Mittal, Hitomi Oba, Aida Shirazi, and Akshaya Tucker. Kaminsky’s Rising Tide and Libby Larsen’s Emergence were
both commissioned for the quartet’s global sustainability initiative The Crossroads Project. The quartet’s diverse discography features works by Beethoven, Haydn, Janáček, Rorem,
and Stravinsky, and recent recordings include The Crossroads Project on Navona Records and the acclaimed chamber opera As One, released on Albany Records. Canções da
America, composed for the FSQ by Clarice Assad, was released in video format by Chicago’s innovative Guarneri Hall, and an album of commissioned works by Benavides, Frank, and Kaminsky is slated for release in 2026.
Growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Anne’s love for chamber music began early, when she performed in her first string quartet at the age of eight. Mentored by wonderful teachers,
coaches, and conductors, Anne credits her formative development as a musician to the vibrant musical community of her childhood. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Richard Aaron and Alan Harris, and spent summers at the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School,
as well as the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall. She became assistant to Cleveland Quartet cellist Paul Katz at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music while earning her Master of Music degree, and joined the Fry Street Quartet soon afterwards. Other
important mentors include Grace Field, Bernard Greenhouse, Bonnie Hampton, and Bruce Uchimura, as well as members of the Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Juilliard, and Orion Quartets.
Anne teaches cello and chamber music at Utah State University, where the Fry Street Quartet holds the Dan C. and Manon Caine Russell endowed string quartet residency. Anne is married to Utah Symphony principal violist Brant Bayless, and the couple resides in Logan
and Salt Lake City with their two young sons. She performs on a cello by Andrea Guarneri made in 1689, generously on loan to her from a private foundation.
