Meet Alex Lacamoire, the orchestrator behind ‘Hamilton,’ ‘Dear Evan Hansen’

“How you do one thing is how you do everything,” Lacamoire says during a recent call from his New York apartment. “The level of detail that I have to put into my work as an orchestrator and the amount of scheduling that has to happen in my life as a music supervisor, and the fact that my schedule was that packed and then I still had access to [my itinerary]? That’s how nerdy I am.”

That meticulousness and work ethic helped Lacamoire win back-to-back Tony Awards for his “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen” orchestrations, and consecutive Grammys for his work on those shows’ cast albums. In 2018, he shared the Kennedy Center Honors with his “Hamilton” co-creators: writer-composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and director Thomas Kail.

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Over the next two months, Lacamoire’s rich arrangements will reverberate through the Kennedy Center once more, with “Hamilton” returning to the Opera House through Oct. 9 and “Dear Evan Hansen” occupying the Eisenhower Theater from Aug. 30 to Sept. 25.

“Working with him, you know you’re going to have somebody who’s going to approach the work in the most comprehensive way, and he’s also going to do so in the most human way,” says Kail, who also collaborated with Lacamoire on the stage musical “In the Heights” and the FX limited series “Fosse/Verdon.” “I think that’s what makes him such a gifted musician, such an incredible bandleader, and that’s what makes him such a wonderful collaborator and partner for every actor and performer that’s onstage.”

Lacamoire, 47, was born in Los Angeles to Cuban immigrant parents before moving to Miami in his youth. He chuckles while telling the story of how, when he was 5 or 6, the teenager tasked with teaching him piano called her own instructor in tears because of how swiftly he absorbed everything she knew. Although Lacamoire was diagnosed with mild hearing loss at a young age, that obstacle never gave him pause as he attended middle and high schools that specialized in fine arts and graduated from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music.

In 2008, Lacamoire won his first Tony for co-orchestrating Miranda’s “In the Heights” score. A year later, when Miranda introduced “Hamilton” to the world with a performance at the White House Poetry Jam, Lacamoire was the pianist by his side. Such early involvement isn’t unusual for Lacamoire: The orchestrations are among the last elements finalized on a musical, but he’s instrumental to the development of any show he’s involved in, listening to composers’ demo tracks and providing feedback during what he calls that initial, “really sacred sphere of vulnerable music-making.”

“We feel that we owe so much of the sound of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ to Alex,” said Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the show’s composers, in a joint email. “The way he was able to blend the sound of contemporary music and pop music alongside stunning and lush string arrangements became the signature sound of the show. No one captures that sound like Alex does.”

According to Kail, it’s as if Lacamoire “brings six tools to the production that he’s on when most of us are struggling to find one or two things to contribute.”

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Referring to himself an “ambassador” of sorts, tasked with interpreting and transmitting the composer’s intent, Lacamoire says his orchestrations are defined by a rhythm section that he hopes is “detailed and organic at the same time.” He also considers not just the sonic aesthetic but the storytelling resonance of every choice he makes.

While “Hamilton” is a hip-hop musical peppered with R&B rhythms, soul music and traditional show tunes, the “Dear Evan Hansen” score is packed with power ballads and alt-rock earworms. Yet, in Lacamoire’s mind, “it’s all music to me.” As Pasek and Paul put it, “His love for consuming new music and all kinds of it is inspiring.”

“I love the variety, and I’ve always been that way,” Lacamoire says. “I’ve always considered myself an eclectic person. Even growing up, it was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to listen to this Keith Jarrett record, and immediately after that I want to listen to this Rush album.’ ”

Lacamoire, who won his fourth Grammy for working with Pasek and Paul on the 2017 movie musical “The Greatest Showman” and an Emmy for 2019’s “Fosse/Verdon,” is respected among his peers. But he is not a household name, and that suits him just fine.

When he was younger, Lacamoire recalls picking up on Marc Shaiman’s background involvement in myriad projects: producing Harry Connick Jr.’s “We Are in Love,” arranging the score for “When Harry Met Sally …,” playing piano in the Sweeney Sisters sketches on “Saturday Night Live.” So Lacamoire feels particularly attuned to fans who notice his work the same way he registered Shaiman’s.

“I see myself in them,” Lacamoire says, “because that means that they are paying attention to the music on a level that I paid attention to music when I was growing up.”

Taking a break from the stage, Lacamoire played a part in four movie musicals released last year: as a music producer on film adaptations of “In the Heights,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and the composer of the Netflix animated feature “Vivo.”

Before Lacamoire peers ahead to the next stage of his career, with what he teases will be a busy 2023, the concurrent runs of “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen” at the Kennedy Center offer an opportunity to reflect on those life-changing shows. And it comes in the city where both musicals, Lacamoire acknowledges, were born: “Hamilton” in 2009 at the White House and “Hansen” in 2015 at Arena Stage.

“I look forward to being able to stand there at the Kennedy Center, which is a building that I love very much, to be able to see both of those marquees and those posters,” Lacamoire says. “That doesn’t seem like it comes along often in a lifetime.”

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Opera House. 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org.

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Eisenhower Theater. 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org.