Maestro Carter Nice has been Music Director and Conductor at the Bear Valley Music Festival since 1984. During his tenure, Carter has conducted more than 200 performances of the Bear Valley Symphony and opera productions.
Maestro Nice began his music career at the age of 12 as a member of the violin section of the Jacksonville (Florida) Symphony. Nice earned a BM from the Eastman School of Music and a MM from the Manhattan School of Music. During his college years, Carter was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic and played with the famed Leopold Stokowski and the American Symphony Orchestra in New York City.
Upon leaving school, Nice served as assistant conductor and concertmaster of the Florida Symphony, followed by a year as chairman of the String Department and Professor of Violin at the University of Oklahoma. An invitation to join the New Orleans Philharmonic as assistant conductor and concertmaster resulted in a 13 year tenure that led to Maestro Nice being offered the music director position of the Sacramento Symphony.
During the 13 years that Maestro Nice served as music director of the Sacramento Symphony the orchestra went from a Metropolitan Orchestra with a budget of $500,000 to one of the top Regional Orchestras in the Country with a 4 million dollar budget. At the peak of the Sacramento Symphony activity, the orchestra performed over 160 concerts each season in all of Northern California. Since his involvement with the Sacramento Symphony, he has continued to serve as a guest conductor, appearing with orchestras around the world. In January 2011, Maestro Nice and his wife Jennifer Smith Nice moved back to his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida to be closer to their children and are enjoying both golf and a great river view.
