Brief Biography
Dr. Durst is the chair of the Music Department at Monterey Peninsula College. In addition
to his classroom instruction at MPC, he also directs the jazz band and sits on the
Education Committee of the Monterey Jazz Festival. He is a Conn-Selmer performing
artist and has given clinics and judged festivals throughout the United States, Mexico,
China, and Central America in addition to publishing with Dorn Publications Inc./Needham
Publications Co. His solo album, Tangos y Serenatas, is published under the Centaur
Records label.
As a performer, he has appeared throughout North and Central America, Asia, and Europe
in concert halls such as Panama City Anita Villalaz, The John F. Kennedy Center, Los
Angeles Disney Hall, Los Angeles Ford Amphitheatre, Sunset Center, 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 Monterey Symphony, 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, and Ohio Light Opera. As a
jazz saxophonist, Durst has performed with the Benny Goodman Orchestra led by Fred
Sturm, the Panama International Jazz Festival, Holland America Cruise Lines, Cleveland
Playhouse Square Jazz on the Circle series, as a woodwind performer on numerous musicals,
and can be heard on radio and television broadcasts such as NPR, WB, BRAVO, CBS, and
WAO (Panama).
Dr. Durst's formal studies include a D.M.A. from the University of California, Los
Angeles, 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.