About Historical
PRIMOUS FOUNTAIN — A BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Primous Fountain was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago in the Ida B. Wells housing projects. Self-taught as a composer, he began composing orchestral music in 1963 — teaching himself the craft from scores and recordings while growing up in one of Chicago’s most storied neighborhoods.
QUINCY JONES — THE BEGINNING
Before any of his music had ever been performed, Fountain’s early orchestral manuscript came to the attention of Quincy Jones. Jones — one of the most celebrated figures in American music — recognized the genius of the young composer immediately. He became Fountain’s patron, entering into a written agreement to support him financially so that, in Jones’s own words, he could concentrate entirely on composing. Jones later commissioned Fountain’s Symphony No. 2. He called Fountain “the future.”
CHICAGO — THE FIRST PERFORMANCES
An entire thirty-minute episode of the television program For Blacks Only was devoted to Fountain’s music — featuring members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing three of his pieces, interspersed with interviews and footage filmed in the Ida B. Wells housing projects and at his parents’ home, where he was still living at the time. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra later gave the formal premiere of Manifestation. Arthur Mitchell — founder and director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem — choreographed Manifestations (with an ‘s,’ inspired by the Adam and Eve and serpent narrative) from the piece. It became the signature ballet of that world-renowned company, touring internationally for years to great acclaim.TANGLEWOOD
Gunther Schuller — one of America’s most respected composers and conductors — personally invited Fountain to Tanglewood, the prestigious summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. There the Berkshire Music Center Orchestra performed an orchestral work by Fountain — Schuller made a recording of the performance. It was this recording that Herbie Hancock later played for Miles Davis — who invited Fountain as his personal guest for a full week at a club engagement in Boston, telling him: “I want to take it to Columbia Records.”
MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS
Michael Tilson Thomas — then Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra — conducted Fountain’s Ritual Dances of the Amaks on an East Coast tour that culminated in a performance at Carnegie Hall. Thomas subsequently conducted the work with the San Francisco Symphony.AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Fountain has received two Guggenheim Fellowships and the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 2011 his Symphony No. 2 (short version) received the award for ‘Best Cultural Event of the Year’ in Lugansk, Ukraine — performed by the Lugansk Philharmonic Orchestra and selected by secret vote among regional media representatives from more than twenty cultural events of the year, ultimately chosen as one of three finalists. The performance represented the finest level of musical achievement.”
COMMISSIONS
Fountain’s works have been commissioned by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (Symphony No. 1), Quincy Jones (Symphony No. 2), Anthony Elliott and the Minnesota Orchestra (Cello Concerto — premiered by Elliott), the Fromm Music Foundation (Ritual Dances of the Amaks), the Paderewski Foundation (Harp Concerto), William Forsythe and the Frankfurt Ballet (String Orchestra), and the Dance Theatre of Harlem. He has composed nine symphonies and more than twenty-six orchestral works.
“AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL”
In June 2020 Michael Tilson Thomas — Artistic Director of the New World Symphony — personally telephoned Fountain and offered to present a concert devoted exclusively to his orchestral works. The concert was publicly announced for April 16, 2022 under the title “Primous Fountain: An American Original.” After two years of ongoing planning the concert was cancelled without explanation.
In October 2025 Fountain filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida — Case No. 25-14374-CIV-MAYNARD — alleging breach of contract and racial discrimination. The case continues to proceed.
