Hidden away on the edge of East Campus, Biddle Music Building is one of Duke’s quieter, more secluded spaces. Yet every so often, it comes alive with music, performed at its semiregular Fountain Concerts.
The Fountain Concert Series takes place — as the name suggests — at the Biddle Building’s fountain, adjacent to the Duke University Musical Instrument Collection (DUMIC) case. Musicians perform from either within or right outside of this case.
According to Jonathan Bagg, professor of the practice of music and a violist with the Ciompi Quartet, concerts have been performed at the Biddle Building’s fountain throughout Duke’s history. But it wasn’t until fall 2023, when alumnus Garrett Saikley, Medical School ‘71, gifted DUMIC a beautiful 1873 Steinway Early Parlor Grand piano, that the music department decided to make them a recurring series. In doing so, they hoped to showcase the Steinway’s beautiful music and give students more opportunities to perform.
Each Fountain Concert features a student or group of students — ranging from solo pianists to chamber music duos to the Duke Chorale — with the only real restriction being the performing space’s limited capacity. The number of concerts varies from year to year, but during the 2024-25 academic year, the department of music is presenting two concerts per semester.
Compared to Duke’s other musical offerings, these concerts are much smaller and cover a different set and type of songs, usually the music the performers are most interested in presenting at a given time. Despite being different from Duke’s usual fare, the concerts still attract strong attendance.
The Fountain Concert Series branched out Feb. 6 by including its first jazz performance. Trinity senior Mauro Mastrapasqua (cello), Trinity first-year Oliver Lublin (piano) and Fuqua student Adithya Sriram (saxophone) played a set Lublin described in an email to The Chronicle as “more of a typical jam session than a prepared concert.” They covered a number of classic and modern jazz pieces by the likes of Clifford Brown, Billy Strayhron, Charlie Parker, Ellis Marsali, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Richard Rogers and Herbie Hancock. In keeping with their jam session approach, they selected a number of pieces right before the concert and even picked a few while performing.
Their concert was well-attended, with around 20 attendees at first — a mixture of Durhamites and Duke community members — and more arriving as it progressed. The performing space offered the perfect balance of intimacy — distinguishing it from larger venues like Baldwin Auditorium — and grandeur, with great acoustics.
The performance itself was phenomenal. Each piece was played perfectly, and the musicians clearly felt comfortable playing every song they selected. While free-flowing and incredibly varied in style, the songs and transitions remained consistently smooth and elegant — giving each musician a chance to showcase their own skills while collaborating effectively. The performance’s atmosphere was lighthearted, and it was clear the trio were enjoying themselves — a telltale sign of a jazz jam session gone right. Their mood was contagious, elevating an already good show into a great one.
According to an email from Lublin, he had always wanted an opportunity to play the Steinway and was excited to get one. Mastrapasqua, on the other hand, said in an email that he was most excited about playing in the venue, as he had always wanted to perform there. Both noted how unique the concert venue was compared to other performance spaces on campus and how different it felt to play jazz without drums.
Overall, the Fountain Concerts are a unique and enjoyable part of Duke’s musical repertoire, offering unparalleled intimacy and a nice, laid-back vibe. Though the Biddle Duke Building can be a bit of a hike for those not living on East, the performances are well worth the journey.
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Zev van Zanten is a Trinity junior and recess editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.