The Nutcracker at The Jacobs School of Music

James Matthew Daniel has earned a regional Emmy Award for his work as co-director, editor and director of photography on The Nutcracker at the Jacobs School of Music. The award was offered by the Central Great Lakes chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Daniel graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 2006.

Daniel’s co-director on the PBS project was Kevin Newbury, a prolific creator of opera, theater, television and film.

“Kevin is a well-known and beloved opera director that I was lucky to get synced up with about 15 years ago,” Daniel said. “For many years, I assisted him on opera productions, and we collaborated outside of those on short films and other video projects that toured the festival circuits. Numerous of Kevin’s operas have been broadcast by PBS, so when WTIU and The Jacobs School were looking for someone who could help guide the capture of their new Nutcracker production, they immediately thought of Kevin, who in turn asked myself and our other longtime collaborator Matthew Principe, a former producer of The Met: Live in HD, to join him.”

Before a single Mouse King or Sugarplum Fairy could take the stage, six months of careful preparation was required.

“I would liken the logistics and planning for the capture to a big puzzle, where pieces keep subtly changing — things like access times for running cables, rotating casts, union labor approvals and shipping equipment across the country. All these things had to be meticulously sorted over time.”

Daniel had high praise for the PBS staff at Indiana University and for the dance staff, music staff, theater union and others involved in creating the project.

“They were incredibly supportive and enthusiastic,” he told me. “Often, I’ve found that institutions are reluctant to undertake a large disruptive new endeavor — especially one that will eat up so much time during the holiday season — but the team in Indiana was incredible. I’ve rarely had the pleasure of working on a project where my hair isn’t falling out at the end from stress and long hours.”

Learning about his award was a big surprise. In fact, he didn’t even know he’d been nominated.

“I was out of town on a camping trip, and I was texting my family from the road before I lost service. A few hours later Kevin texted to tell me that a second PBS project that we made concurrently with The Nutcracker was also nominated in the New York regional Emmys.”

That second project, SOUL(SIGNS): Making Music Visible, is a PBS movie which explores the intersection of American Sign Language, music and film. Created by deaf artist Brandon Kazen-Maddox and the Up Until Now Collective, it seeks to transform music into tangible art. Daniel served as editor and director of photography on that show, as well.

You may watch The Nutcracker at the Jacobs School of Music here. You may watch SOUL(SIGNS): Making Music Visible here.