Donovan
PARAMUS, N.J. – Bergen Community College students will have a chance to pick the brain – or maybe even the guitar – of the “Sunshine Superman” himself, Donovan, this month at the Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC). The 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee will host a master class in songwriting for the students prior to an evening performance at the venue.
Organized by the College’s Visual and Performing Arts Department, inTune Partners, Bergen music professor Andrew Krikun, Ph.D., and concert promoter/music publisher Irwin Kornfeld – both executive board members of the non-profit educational organization the Association for Popular Music Education (www.popularmusiceducation.org) – the collaboration led to a unique opportunity for Bergen students.
“Our students will participate in a question-and-answer with a living, breathing legend of pop music,” Krikun said. “Something like this does not come along every day – I’m thrilled we were able to organize it for them. These are the types of opportunities available for Bergen students that aren’t found anywhere else.”
Students will also have the opportunity to perform for Donovan during the master class.
The concert, which will take place Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. at bergenPAC, 30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, celebrates Donovan’s 50 years on tour and comes to Bergen County after selling out Carnegie Hall. Tickets range from $59.50 to $99.50 and are available through Ticketmaster; students and Bergen alumni can access discounts through the College. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of alumni tickets will benefit Bergen Community College Foundation scholarship funds.
An originator of the “flower power” psychedelic music style and credited with introducing meditation and Eastern philosophy into popular music, Donovan’s numerous hits include “Mellow Yellow,” “Catch the Wind” and “Hurdy Gurdy Man.”
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls 15,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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