Ralph S. Opacic, Ed.D.

President & CEO

Ralph S. Opacic, Ed.D. has spent more than 25 years building institutions that turn young people's artistic talent into disciplined, working ability. He founded Orange County School of the Arts in 1987 and now leads Orange County Music & Dance, where he is expanding access to arts training from early childhood through adulthood.

His path in arts leadership

Ralph S. Opacic started as a choral and vocal music teacher at Los Alamitos High School, then moved from the classroom into building institutions. In 1987 he founded Orange County School of the Arts and led it as President and Executive Director until 2021, assembling a faculty of artist-teachers and academic instructors that helped make OCSA one of the top-ranked arts high schools in the country. Alongside that work he founded West Coast Musical Theatre Company, West Coast School of the Arts, and Pacific Coast Dance Fest, each aimed at giving young performing and visual artists structured, serious training.

After leaving OCSA, he spent several years consulting with arts schools and institutions across California and the country, including work with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center, applying what he had learned about running an arts organization to other schools facing the same questions of faculty, funding, and program design.

In October 2025 he became President & CEO of Orange County Music & Dance, an organization he had already served on the board of for ten years. He is now leading its expansion, including a second campus and a "womb to tomb" model that offers arts instruction at every stage of life. His approach rests on a belief he states plainly: the arts build confidence, discipline, and creativity that carry into every part of a student's life.