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Nicole Macias has been playing the violin for 33 years, the viola for 25 years, and teaching for 24 years. She began teaching as a high school freshman, fell in love with it, and has been teaching ever since. She has studied with the late Hiroko Primrose (a pioneer in the Suzuki Method) the late Dr. Clyn Barrus, Dr. Mark Emile, and Dr. Will Kessling. While a college freshman at USU, Nicole was deemed qualified enough to teach university students for credit, a position usually reserved only for those teachers with a masters’ degree. She graduated from the University of Utah in 1999.

Since making the decision to pursue a teaching career, she has studied Music Education & Violin Pedagogy with Shauna Davies, Linda Fiore, Joseph Kaminsky, Cathy Lee, Allan Lieb, Doris Preucil, Edmund Springer, Beth Titterington, & Michiko Yurko. She continues her education by attending various Suzuki Teacher Training workshops through out the year. She is Certified in Suzuki Violin Instruction by the Suzuki Association of Utah, and the Suzuki Association of America.

In 2007 she was invited to participate in the Starling- Delay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Julliard School in New York City. While there, Nicole was able to study with Stephen Clapp, Robert Duke, Simon Fisher, Brian Lewis, Itzhak Perlman, Kurt Sassmannshaus, Donlad Weilerstein, & Mimi Zweig.

In 2014, Nicole became the first Suzuki Teacher in Utah to be awarded the Suzuki Association of the Americas Certificate of Achievement, which recognizes excellence in teaching.

Currently Nicole owns and runs Sunrise Suzuki Strings, a private Suzuki Violin & Viola Studio, which has a current enrollment of nearly 60 students. She is also the president of the Utah County Region of the Suzuki Association of Utah. Nicole is married to Robert Macias, and they have five children, three of which still live at home, where someone is playing the violin or piano nearly all the time.