PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
SAMANTHA ANDREA LACROIX
Age: 46
Lives in: Port St. Lucie
Occupation: Elementary music
teacher at Creative Arts Academy
of St. Lucie (CAST) in Fort Pierce
Family: Husband, Armand;
son, Armand Jake, 18; daughter,
Madeleine, 16
Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano from
Texas Christian University, plus independent studies in
theater, opera and dance
Hobbies: Yoga, volunteering with horses, “anything with
music”
Who inspires me: “My mom is a beautiful, strong person
who introduced me to the arts and was a concert pianist in
her own right, performing all over Europe.”
Something most people don’t know about me: “I speak
German and am still an Austrian citizen, because Austria
doesn’t allow dual citizenship. I have a green card.”
FORT
“I had this great big voice, and one of the professors encouraged
me,” LaCroix says. “I fell in love with opera, One of my
piano teachers talked about ‘taming the beast with 88 keys,’ but
with opera, I got to look at the audience, project myself. It was a
collaborative effort with the other singers and musicians.”
While LaCroix worked for the Van Cliburn Foundation,
helping run competitions and acting as a liaison with competitors,
opera became her passion. She gave private recitals
to “get my chops wet,” performed in school showcases and
participated in opera nights around Fort Worth.
She also married Armand LaCroix, another TCU student.
They decided that, given their schedules, they could either
wait for two years or marry within two weeks. “We rented a
chapel for fifty dollars; I got my dress at Burlington Coat Factory;
our parents came along when we ‘eloped,’” she says.
With the money they saved on a big wedding, the couple
bought a home in Connecticut, closer to family and New
York. Crammed into their 900-square-foot house, her husband
ran eBay and computer repair/recycle businesses from their
new son’s nursery. LaCroix taught piano in the living room.
She also found an opera teacher at Yale, performing whenever
she could. As a stay-at-home mother who taught piano to 20
students, she also studied diction so that she could sing and >>
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LaCroix was joined on the red carpet by her family, from left, Armand Jake,
LaCroix, Madeleine, and husband, Armand.
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