Alan Durst has been an active performer and educator throughout North and Central America, Asia, and Europe. His performances explore a diverse range of styles, and he has appeared in concert halls such as Panama City Anita Villalaz, Los Angeles Disney Hall, Los Angeles Ford Amphitheatre, Oxnard Performing Arts Center, Countrywide Performing Arts Center, Santa Barbara Arlington Theatre, Fresno Saroyan Theatre, Wadsworth Theatre, and Cleveland Masonic Temple. He has performed with the New West Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, Midland - Odessa Symphony & Chorale, Gang Nam Symphony Orchestra, Korean-American Symphony, Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, Opera Pasadena, Ohio Light Opera, and can be heard on radio and television broadcasts such as NPR, WB, BRAVO, CBS, and WAO (Panama). As a jazz saxophonist, Durst has performed with the Benny Goodman Orchestra, Holland America Cruise Lines, Cleveland Playhouse Square Jazz on the Circle series, and as a woodwind performer on numerous musicals. He is currently the cofounder/soprano saxophonist of the Panama International Saxophone Quartet which actively tours Central America.
As an educator, Durst is on the faculty of California State University, Fresno and Idyllwild Arts Summer Program. He has given clinics at universities and schools throughout the United States, Mexico, China, and Central America in addition to publishing with Dorn Publications Inc./Needham Publications Co.
Durst has received many awards including honorable mention at the Atwater Kent Concerto Competition (2003), the first person to win the Three Arts Club of Lakewood Competition two consecutive years (1998 & 1999), and the only representative accepted from North America in 1998 to participate in the prestigious International Saxophone Masterclasses at the Sweelink Conservatorium von Amsterdam, Holland.
His formal studies include a D.M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an M.M. from the University of Miami School of Music, and a B.M. & B.M.E.Cum Laude graduate of the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music. He has been fortunate to have studied with world-class saxophonists Douglas Masek, Gary Keller, and Greg Banaszak as well as Arno Bornkamp, and Angelo Fortini.
