Grand Opening of the Stevenson University BPAC

Tuesday, March 31, 2026, marked the official opening of The Sandra and Malcolm Berman Family Performing Arts Center (BPAC). Highlights of the day include:

• Opening remarks made by Maryland's Lieutenant Governor, Aruna Miller; Jeff Salkin from Maryland Public Television; Stevenson University President Dr. Elliot Hirshman; and most importantly, Mrs. Sandra Berman, a Stevenson Board of Trustees member and the President of the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Charitable Foundation.

• Listening to Maryland Opera performer Tim Mix give the Concert Hall a proper acoustics test with his rendition of "The Toreador Song" from Carmen.

• Thanking Mrs. Sandra Berman personally for her contributions.

• Hearing from theater faculty and the band director about how much they are excited to work in the building (and that their graduating seniors are sad they will not get to use BPAC next year)

• Showing the completed building to my children for the first time

A project of this scale was of course a team effort. Thank you to Stages Consulting, Younts Design, Carroll Engineering, SRBR, Shen Milsom & Wilke, Jensen Hughes, and Rider Levett Bucknall. From the Vertical Architecture team I want to thank Chris Kao, a wonderful project architect, and Violeta Fiorino Schwartz for helping us with that final push for the construction set.

I especially want to thank Howard Brown and the rest of the team at David S. Brown Enterprises for helping to ensure that this 38,000 square foot building was not only built under budget ($24 million) but also finished faster than scheduled.

I hope that the BPAC serves the Stevenson University community well for many years to come!

Maryland Opera performer Tim Mix gives the Concert Hall a proper acoustics test with his rendition of "The Toreador Song" from Carmen