Alex Lacamoire facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alex Lacamoire
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Lacamoire accepting his 2016 Tony Award
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| Born | May 24, 1975 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Berklee College of Music |
| Occupation | Composer, orchestrator, arranger, conductor, musical director, music copyist, record producer |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Ileana Ferreras
(m. 2011) |
Alex Lacamoire (born May 24, 1975) is a talented Cuban-American composer, arranger, conductor, and musical director. He has worked on many famous shows both on and off-Broadway.
Alex has won multiple Tony and Grammy Awards. These awards are for his amazing work on musicals like In the Heights (2008), Hamilton (2016), and Dear Evan Hansen (2017). In 2018, he also received the Kennedy Center Honors, a very special award for artists.
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Early Life and Education
Alex Lacamoire was born in Los Angeles, California. He started playing the piano when he was just four years old. When he was nine, his family moved to Miami, Florida.
He went to Southwood Middle School, which is known for its great fine arts programs. Later, he attended New World School of the Arts. Alex then studied at Berklee College of Music, a famous music school. He graduated in 1995 with a very high GPA. At Berklee, he focused on jazz, arranging music, and creating music for films.
Alex has hearing loss and uses hearing aids. This shows that even with challenges, you can achieve great things!
Alex's Amazing Career
Alex Lacamoire has had a very busy and successful career in theater. He often works as a music director, arranger, or orchestrator for musicals.
Early Shows and Wicked
Some of his early projects included Bat Boy: The Musical and Legally Blonde. He also worked on the national tour of Godspell.
In 2005, Alex became the music director for the popular musical Wicked. He also helped with the music arrangements for the original Broadway production of Wicked.
Working with Lin-Manuel Miranda
Alex is well-known for his collaborations with Lin-Manuel Miranda.
In the Heights
In 2007, Alex was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his work on In the Heights. This musical started Off-Broadway and then moved to Broadway. Alex, along with Bill Sherman, won a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations in 2008 for In the Heights. They also won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2009.
Bring It On and Annie
In 2012, Alex worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda again on Bring It On the Musical. He was a music supervisor and arranger for this show. Alex also created the dance arrangements for the 2012 Broadway revival of Annie.
Hamilton Success
Alex was the music director, orchestrator, and conductor for Hamilton on Broadway. He also helped arrange the show's music with Lin-Manuel Miranda. In 2016, Alex won his second Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for Hamilton.
The Original Broadway Cast Recording won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2016. This earned Alex his second Grammy as a record producer.
Alex often took part in the fun Ham4Ham performances. These were mini-shows held outside the theater for fans waiting to see Hamilton.
More Recent Work
Dear Evan Hansen
Alex is the Music Supervisor for Dear Evan Hansen. For this musical, he won his third Tony Award and his third Grammy Award.
Carmen La Cubana
He was also the music director and orchestrator for Carmen La Cubana. This was a Cuban version of the famous opera Carmen. Alex said working on this show felt like channeling music that was “in his blood.”
Helping Puerto Rico
In late 2017, Alex joined Lin-Manuel Miranda again. They worked on the song "Almost Like Praying". This song helped raise money for Hurricane Maria relief in Puerto Rico.
Film and Other Projects
Alex was the Executive Music Producer for the movie The Greatest Showman in 2017. He also produced and arranged songs for Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamildrops" series.
In 2018, Alex appeared on The Hamilcast: A Hamilton Podcast. He talked in detail about the music from Hamilton.
In 2019, Alex received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music.
More recently, Alex worked on the animated movie Vivo (2021) as a score composer. He also produced music for the film Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021).
Awards and Nominations
Alex Lacamoire has won many awards for his incredible work. Here are some of them:
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Orchestrations | In the Heights | Nominated | |
| 2008 | Tony Award | Best Orchestrations | Won | ||
| 2009 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Theater Album | Won | ||
| 2010 | 9 to 5 | Nominated | |||
| 2015 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Orchestrations | Hamilton | Nominated | |
| 2016 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Theater Album | Won | ||
| Tony Award | Best Orchestrations | Won | |||
| 2017 | Dear Evan Hansen | Won | |||
| 2018 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Theater Album | Won | ||
| Olivier Award | Outstanding Achievement in Music (shared with Lin-Manuel Miranda) | Hamilton | Won | ||
| Kennedy Center Honors | (shared with Andy Blankenbuehler, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail) | Won | |||
| 2019 | Grammy Award | Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media (Executive Producer) | The Greatest Showman | Won | |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Music Direction | Fosse/Verdon (for "Life Is A Cabaret") | Won | |
| 2020 | Olivier Awards | Best New Orchestration | Dear Evan Hansen | Won |
