About Fountain
Quincy Jones, the renowned producer and impresario, was the first to recognize the genius of the young composer when he studied the manuscript of the orchestra work “Manifestation” — before any of Fountain’s music had ever been performed. Jones immediately became Fountain’s patron and mentor, the beginning of a close and lasting relationship.
Jones later commissioned Fountain to compose his Second Symphony — a masterpiece ten years in the making.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave the first performance of Fountain’s music when he was twenty years old. Arthur Mitchell, founder and director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, then choreographed “Manifestations” — which became the signature ballet of that world-renowned company.
Fountain, self-taught, was raised in Chicago’s Southside Ida B. Wells Housing Projects. At 25 he became the youngest person in history to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship — and received a second one shortly after.
