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 James Dunham is an internationally known soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Formerly violist of the Grammy Award winning Cleveland Quartet, he has collaborated with such renowned artists as Emmanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Richard Goode, Lynne Harrell, Cho-Liang Lin, Sabine Meyer, Bernard Greenhouse and members of the American, Guarneri, Juilliard, Takacs and Tokyo Quartets. He has also worked with such composers as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, Paul Chihara, John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov, Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus, Mel Powell, Bernard Rands, Christopher Rouse, Gunther Schuller and Joan Tower. Ms. Larsen has written a sonata for Mr. Dunham (2001) which he premiered at the Aspen Music Festival in July 2001 and has recorded for an upcoming Naxos CD release.
Mr. Dunham is a frequent guest artist with groups such as Houston Friends of Music, Da Camera of Houston, Musicians from Marlboro, the Boston Chamber Music Society and the Borromeo, Cassatt, Cavani, Colorado, Fine Arts, Mendelssohn, Miami, Pacifica and Ying Quartets. In addition to his chamber music activities, Mr. Dunham has given concerto and recital performances throughout the U.S. and served as guest principal viola with the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa and the Dallas Symphony under Andrew Litton in their home cities as well as at Carnegie Hall.
Currently Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, he directs their Advanced Quartet Studies Program. Mr. Dunham formerly taught at the New England Conservatory where he also Chaired the String Department. A devoted teacher, he frequently presents viola and chamber music master classes at leading schools and universities including Tokyo’s Toho School, Freiburg’s Hochschule für Musik, Beijing’s Central Conservatory, Boston and Northwestern Universities, USC, UCLA and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.
Mr. Dunham was violist of the renowned Cleveland Quartet from 1987 through its final recordings and concerts in December 1995. The Quartet won the 1996 Grammy for "Best Chamber Music Performance" for their Telarc recording of John Corigliano’s String Quartet, written for their final tour. As a member of the Cleveland Quartet he also served as Professor of Viola at the prestigious Eastman School of Music. An Honors graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, Mr. Dunham studied liberal arts at Carleton College before receiving his Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees from California Institute of the Arts. While at Cal-Arts, he was a founding member of the Sequoia Quartet, winners of the 1978 Naumburg International Chamber Music Award, and in 1991 he received the Cal-Arts Music School’s first Distinguished Alumni Award.
Mr. Dunham is much sought after as a jurist for events such as the Fischoff, Coleman and William Primrose Competitions, and has also been a featured soloist at the International Viola Congress. His summer activities include teaching and performing at many festivals, including those of Marlboro, Domaine Forget, Aspen, Sarasota, Amelia Island (FL), Yale at Norfolk and Musicorda. He served as principal violist of the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival for ten seasons, and is a regular participant in the Festival der Zukunft in Ernen, Switzerland. He is featured on an album of recent music for viola and winds on the Crystal Records label, and has recorded with the Sequoia Quartet for Nonesuch and Delos, and with the Cleveland Quartet exclusively for Telarc.
LYRA STRING QUARTET WITH GUEST ARTISTS JAMES DUNHAM AND CHRISTOPER FRENCH
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
Sunday, March 28, 2010
7:30pm
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 Dona Vellek Klein is Assistant Principal Cello Emeritus of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She studied at the New School of Music in Philadelphia, under the tutelage of Orlando Cole of the Curtis String Quartet. Following studies, she won a position with the Buffalo Philharmonic and played in this orchestra for 3 years before coming to Atlanta as Assistant Principal Cello in 1981.
Ms. Klein ran two chamber music groups, Sempre Sonare and the Atlanta Quartet, for a number of years; they frequented Oglethorpe and Emory universities, where Klein was an artist affiliate for 11 years. Ms. Klein has been a guest artist of such chamber groups as the Georgian Chamber Players, the Atlanta Chamber Players, and LYRA. A highlight of Ms. Klein’s career was a summer at the Robert Shaw Institute and other festivals in France. She loves teaching and works frequently with the ASYO cellists.
Ms. Klein joins LYRA as a facilitator and coach for the 2010 Evening of Chamber Music at Callanwolde.
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 Cellist, Christopher French is the associate principal cellist of the Houston Symphony. Before joining the orchestra in 1986 he held titled positions in both the Shreveport and Honolulu symphonies. Chris is the seventh in a full octave of musical siblings. He enjoys performing with the Bad Boys of Cello, the alter ego of the Houston Symphony cello section. The Bad Boys play in venues as disparate as homeless shelters and elementary schools in an effort to eliminate the classist misconceptions about classical music.
Chris is a graduate of North Park University in Chicago, the recipient of that school's highest honor, the "Performance Award." In addition to two concerto performances with the Houston Symphony, he has appeared on the Chamber Players series, Da Camera of Houston, and the Greenbriar Consortium. He is a regular participant in the "Mainly Mozart Festival" in San Diego and the Grand Teton Music Festival.
Chris teaches orchestral repertoire at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and is also actively involved in teaching cello to younger students. He assists in cello preparation for Houston's High School for Performing and Visual Arts, was a highly regarded featured speaker at the Texas Music Educators Association convention in 2006 with his presentation of "Preparing Young Cellists for a Life in Music", and is frequently sought as a judge for area competitions. Chris is featured in solos on the Houston Symphony's recent recording of Stravinsky's "Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fee", and on a chamber music recording with the HSO principal clarinetist, David Peck and his wife, Edith Orloff.
Chris and his wife, Kari, live in the Historic Houston Heights with their dog, Lars.
LYRA STRING QUARTET WITH GUEST ARTISTS JAMES DUNHAM AND CHRISTOPER FRENCH
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
Sunday, March 28, 2010
7:30pm
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"The performance of my Second String Quartet by the Lyra Quartet was precise, vivacious and knowing, and the collaboration was a joy from start to finish. I sincerely hope that I will have more opportunities to work with this terrific group."
-- Dr. Jon Jeffrey Grier, Composer |
"These musicians (of the LYRA String Quartet) are first class all the way!"
-- Dr. Samuel Goldman, Executive Director of Callanwolde Fine Arts Center |
"We have attended many Spivey Hall concerts this year, and I do believe this one was the best - there was so much connection between the musicians and the audience!
-- Audience Member, Spivey Hall Noteworthy Young People’s Concert, 2009 |
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