Dan Laurin ha iniziato lo studio del flauto come autodidatta. In seguito ha frequentato il Funen Conservatory of Music a Odense e successivamente ha studiato con Paul Nauta. Dan Laurin ha insegnato in diversi conservatori e accademie in scandinavia e Germania. Presso la Carl Nielsen Academy of Music ha sviluppato un progetto didattico sulla musica contemporanea, includendo nello studio materie come tecnica per lo stage, pubbliche relazioni, tecnologia musicale, ginnastica. Tiene regolarmente corsi di perfezionamento in Svezia, Danimarca, Norvegia, Germania, Stati Uniti, Giappone e Australia. Recentemente è stato premiato con una borsa di studio dal governo danese per una ricerca sulle proprietà acustiche del flauto dolce. Questa ricerca è svolta in collaborazione con ricercatori internazionli della University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, e della Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm, Svezia.
La sua attività concertistica internazionale lo ha portato a collaborare con noti gruppi ed orchestre, tra i quali Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, Bach Collegium Japan, The Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra e The Berlin Phil. Ha effettuato tournées in Giapponee Stati Uniti, e si è esibito nelle più importanti capitali europee. Dan Laurin vanta anche un'intensa attività discografica. Tra le sue incisioni spiccano opere di Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel, van Eyck come molte opere di musica contemporanea, alcune delle quali composte espressamente per Dan Laurin.

In recent years the recorder virtuose Dan Laurin has performed in most parts of the world. Tours to the USA, Japan and Australia as well as appearances in the major European musical centres have confirmed his reputation as one of the most interesting - and Sometimes controversial - performers on his instrument. His efforts to rediscover the sonic possibilities of the recorder have resulted in a technical facility and a style of playing that have won him numerous awards including a Grammy and the Society of Swedish Composers' prize for the best interpretation of contemporary Swedish music. A lengthy collaboration with the Australian instrument maker Frederick Morgan resulted in a succession of reconstructions of instruments from earlier rimes, and this has greatly enriched the world of recorder music. Special mention should be made here of the instrument that was designed specifically for Dan Laurin's recording of Jacob van Eyck's monumental Der Fluyten Lust-hof (BIS-CD-775/780), the largest work ever written for a /wind instrument. Besides working with early music. Dan Laurin has also premiéred numerous works by Swedish and other composers. His efforts to broaden the repertoire and to gain for the recorder the status of a concert instrument together with a large orchestra has resulted in several concertos that are already considered classics. Dan Laurin is professor of the recorder and teaches at Stockholm's Royal University College of Music. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and in 2001 he received the medal 'Litteris et Artibus' from the King of Sweden.