WINSTON-SALEM – The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) announced today that UNCSA’s production of The Nutcracker will be broadcast on WRAL-TV, the CBS affiliate for Raleigh, Durham and Fayetteville, on Saturday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day, at 2 p.m. and on Saturday, Jan. 1, New Year’s Day, at 3 p.m.  

The broadcasts of the performances, staged by UNCSA’s dean of Dance, Ethan Stiefel, will be hosted by Chancellor John Mauceri, who is a two-time Emmy winner. Mauceri won his Emmys as an on-camera host with a Hollywood Bowl Orchestra broadcast in 1998 and as a writer for a subsequent Hollywood Bowl Orchestra broadcast in 1994.  

UNCSA’s production of The Nutcracker was filmed by UNC-TV during the performance run, Dec. 4-12, at the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem. 

Last year, UNCSA introduced a new production of The Nutcracker, which received rave reviews from critics and the public alike and was directed by Stiefel, principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) and star of the CENTER STAGE movies. 

In addition, new choreography by Stiefel and three other members of the UNCSA School of Dance faculty – Nigel Burley, Warren Conover and Susan McCullough – delighted people of all ages. New lighting by ABT Resident Lighting Designer Brad Fields, a UNCSA School of Design and Production alumnus, and new set pieces designed by UNCSA Design and Production faculty member Howard Jones all added to the magic of the production. 

This year, the immensely popular Tchaikovsky Nutcracker ballet music is performed by the UNCSA Nutcracker Orchestra under the musical direction of special Guest Conductor Charles Barker, who is the principal conductor for American Ballet Theatre.  

This year marks the 45^th anniversary of UNCSA’s Nutcracker, which is produced each year through the joint efforts of the School of Dance, School of Design and Production, and School of Music. Students are involved in all aspects of the production, from the dancers on stage to the musicians in the orchestra pit, to the production crew behind the scenes. 

Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. is a diversified communications company which owns and/or operates WRAL-TV, WRAL Digital, WRAL-FM, WRAL-HD2, WCMC-FM, Microspace, CBC New Media Group and Wolfpack Sports Marketing in Raleigh, NC; WJZY-TV and WMYT-TV in Charlotte, NC; WILM-TV and Sunrise Broadcasting in Wilmington, NC; WRAZ-TV and The Durham Bulls in Durham, NC; and real estate interests including the American Tobacco Project and Diamond View office buildings in Durham, NC. 

WRAL offers children’s educational and informational programming.  

UNC-TV is North Carolina’s member-supported, 12-station statewide network committed to bringing life-changing television to all North Carolinians.

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from high school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. UNCSA is located at 1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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