Live the Music

Ralph Sanders is the Owner/Director of OVATIONS Music Academy, The Woodlands, Texas. He is a professional Singer, Actor, Educator, Voice Instructor, Conductor and Director. As a performer, his diverse talents have led him down some very valuable steps and pathways seeking and conquering the joys of life, through music.

Mr. Sanders made his professional singing debut as the Marchallin’s Major-Domo in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, with Houston Grand Opera. While a young artist with the Regional Opera company, he sang many roles including Snout in Benjamin Britten’s-A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nathanael in Offenbach’s-Les Contes Hoffmann, Il Messagero in Verdi’s-Aida, and Enok Pratt in Carlisle Floyd’s composing workshop-The Passion of Jonathon Wade. He performed in the World Premier of Sir Michael Tippett’s ‘New Year’ as a singer and dancer. He also performed the role of The Officer in Strauss’-Ariadne auf Naxos, while covering the role of Bacchus, opposite Dame Eva Turner. He was also seen as the Butler/Liebeslieder Singer in My Fair Lady, starring Frank Langella. Mr. Sanders performed in the double bill of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, under the incomparable direction of Francesca Zambello. He was also featured in Wagner’s Lohengrin, and Parsifal, under the baton of Maestro Christoph Eschenbach, and directed by world renowned artist, Robert Wilson!

Ralph has shared the stage with many international artists such as, Placido Domingo, Giuseppe Giacomini, Josephine Barstow, Denyce Graves, Marcello Giordani, Vincenzo LaScola, Frank Langella, Rene Fleming, Karita Matilla, and Eva Marton, to name a few. He has recently been seen in Broadway Musicals in the roles of Harry Bright in Mamma Mia, Joseph Pulitzer in Newsies, and the Wolfe in Into the Woods, where he was also the Music Director. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Wolf, and for Best Music Director in Sondheim’s Into the Woods, for Broadway World’s Regional Awards. His latest role before the pandemic was as the sadistic Head Mistress, Agatha Trunchbull, in the Broadway musical, Matilda, by Roald Dahl. Mr. Sanders’ acting credits include Rod in Calendar Girls. The General in Gymnasium, Sir Peter Teazle in Sheldon’s, The School for Scandal, and Dr. Montague in F. Andrew Leslie’s, The Haunting of Hillhouse! Mr. Sanders was also featured in Academy Sports and Outdoors’ National Commercial campaign for Mother’s Day, 2021.

As a Choral and Theatre Arts Director for 17 years, Mr. Sanders has conducted many of his award-winning choirs in the US, France, England, and across Italy, where his Chamber Choir sang mass at The Vatican for Pope John Paul II, in Rome. His choirs have also sung in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Hatfield House, Chârtes Cathedral, and Westminster Abby, to name a few. Mr. Sanders’ Chamber Choir from Westfield High School, placed in the top three in the prestigious, Madrigal Festival of Texas. He had 297 students in his choral program at Westfield High School, and consistently won Sweepstakes at UIL competitions. While Head Choral Director, Mr. Sanders, along with his students, started a 92-voiced Gospel Choir called, Sounds of Soul (SOS), and his Chorale won the Top Ranking in New York’s, Fame Events Competition. Throughout his teaching career in the public and private school systems, Mr. Sanders has place 38 students in the TPSMEA and TMEA Texas All-State Choirs.

As a Musical Theatre Director, Mr. Sanders has directed many Broadway musicals including: Disney’s, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, FROZEN, ALADDIN, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, SOUND OF MUSIC, THE WIZ, WILLY WONKA, CINDERELLA, THE POLAR EXPRESS and many more!

Ralph Sanders is in demand as a Private Voice Instructor for singing, acting, opera, musical theatre and public speaking. His students have gone on to such prestigious schools as The Juilliard School, The Manhattan School of Music, New York University, The Curtis Institute of Music, Berkeley College of Music and various other colleges and universities around the country! He has had several students in the top 30 of American Idol and on The Voice.

Mr. Sanders was a District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, where he received the Luciano Pavarotti Encouragement Award! Among his many awards and honors, Mr. Sanders was a finalist in the Lauritz Melchior Heldentenor Foundation Competition and performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall. He was a recipient of the prestigious Claus Nobel Prize for ‘Educator of Distinction’, and his Choral Department at Westfield High School was a nominee for the Grammy Foundation Award for Excellence in Music! Mr. Sanders has been listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in several publications!