Dr. David Durant

Education

• Bachelor of Music in Composition
  University of Florida

• Master of Music in Composition and Theory
  University of Florida

• Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition
  University of Alabama

Biography

David Z. Durant (b. 1957, Birmingham, Alabama, USA) is a Professor of Music at the University of South Alabama where he is the Director of the Music Theory and Technology Program. He joined the faculty of USA in 2003. Durant received his BM and MM from the University of Florida and his DMA from the University of Alabama. His composition teachers have included Andrew Imbrie, Edward Troupin, John D. White, Fred Goossen, Harry Phillips, Marvin Johnson, and James Paul Sain. Durant is active as a composer and performs as a pianist. At USA, he teaches Intermediate Music Theory I & II; Integrated Analytical Techniques I & II; Recording Technology; Sequencing; Music, Sound and Multimedia; Introduction to Composition; Composition I & II; and occasionally Basic Music Theory I & II.

During the 2021-22 season, Durant had his work Journey to the City of Metal for Six Trumpets included on the CD Ivano Ascari Nuove Musiche per Tromba #11, Trento, Italy. Durant was also the recording engineer on most of this CD which included his colleague and Professor of Music Peter Wood, trumpet as one of the featured performers. Durant’s composition Shadow of the Hawk for Vibraphone and Fixed Audio was performed by Patti Cudd at the Constellation in Chicago, at Western Michigan University at the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the US National Conference, Lewis University at the Electronic Music Midwest Festival, and at the International Computer Music Conference in Limerick, Ireland. His USA colleagues Professor of Music Thomas Rowell, tenor and Assistant Professor of Music Doreen Lee, piano premiered Durant’s first work in a new song cycle titled Greenbrier and Fireflies. Esther Lamneck premiered Evanescent Encounter for Tarogato and Fixed Audio at the 2021 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. Lamneck and Durant were also featured artists at the Sonorities Festival at Queens University in Belfast, N.I., U.K. where they performed Durant’s The Crystalline, Radiant Sky for Tarogato and Fixed Audio in the Sonic Arts Research Center which houses a 40-channel speaker array. USA student Brett Fabacher performed Durant’s Whispers on a Desolate Island for Trumpet and Soundfile. Durant composed a new work Vessel of Gloom for Fixed Audio which was premiered at the 2022 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival.

This season (2022-2023) Durant had the premiere of his work Crescent Moon Seen Through the Pines for soprano and piano. It was presented on November 9 and 10 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This work was commissioned by the Astralis Duo, Stephanie Aston, voice and Katalin Lukács, piano, as part of their Rising Water Project. Early in 2023 cellist Craig Hultgren performed Durant’s Two Pieces for Cello at University of North Carolina – Charlotte, Francis Marion University, West Florida University, University of South Alabama, and University of Alabama. In April 2023, Esther Lamneck will perform Evanescent Encounter for Tarogato and Fixed Audio at the 2023 Society for Electroacoustic Music in the US National Conference held in New York City. Later in 2023, Durant will premiere his eight-channel version of The Ball Jar for Fixed Audio at the 2023 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival.