Wilder Frets: Classical Guitar in the Wilderness at Smith Rock

Award-winning classical guitar virtuoso, Tye Austin performs Spanish and Latin American music.
About this Event

ABOUT WILDER FRETS

For our inaugural season, Wilder Frets: Classical Guitar in the Wilderness will tour across the state of Oregon from August 1–October 1, 2026. Led by classical guitar virtuoso and artistic director Tye Austin, the series replaces the traditional concert hall with immersive wilderness landscapes—including state parks, farms, ranches, wineries, hot spring resorts, and other unique locations throughout the state. Audiences experience each performance through wireless headphone technology, allowing them to move freely and explore the surrounding landscape within a quarter-mile radius as the music accompanies their wanderings through each Wilder setting.

ABOUT THIS SITE

Smith Rock State Park is located near Terrebonne in central Oregon, where the Crooked River winds through towering cliffs of welded volcanic ash and basalt formed millions of years ago by intense volcanic activity and erosion. Widely regarded as the birthplace of modern American sport climbing, the park is known for its dramatic rock spires, sheer canyon walls, and sweeping high-desert landscapes shaped by the geologic forces of the Pacific Northwest. The surrounding environment reflects the transition between the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range and Oregon’s arid plateau country, supporting diverse plant and wildlife communities adapted to the region’s dry climate. For thousands of years, the Crooked River region has been home to Indigenous peoples including the Wasco, Warm Springs, Paiute, and Northern Paiute tribes, whose descendants are represented today by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. These communities maintained deep cultural and spiritual relationships with the land through seasonal travel, fishing, hunting, gathering, and trade routes that crossed central Oregon.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Oregon-born classical guitarist and composer Tye Austin, M.M., is the Artistic Director of Wilder Frets, a concert series that brings world-class classical guitar performances into natural wilderness settings. With ancestral ties to Franco-Spanish pirates of the Caribbean, he draws on a deep cultural connection to Spanish and Latin American repertoire, shaping his interpretations with distinctive authenticity and depth. Praised by NBC News for making “the guitar sing like it was invented only to be in his hands,” Austin is an internationally recognized virtuoso guitarist whose career includes appearances at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Royal Albert Hall, performances for global leaders at the United Nations, and international residencies and tours across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. He was also hired as the principal classical guitarist for Royal Caribbean International cruise lines. He holds a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In his spare time, he can be found surfing, fly-fishing, foraging, or skinny-dipping in geo-thermal hot springs.

WHAT YOU’LL HEAR

Classical guitar virtuoso Tye Austin will draw from the following programs at each concert, offering a different and unique selection of works for every performance.

SPANISH GUITAR REPERTOIRE

Sebastián Yradier (1809–1865)
La Paloma
Arr. Tye Austin

Francisco Tárrega (1852–1909)
Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Capricho Árabe
Endecha y Oremus

Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909)
Granada
Cádiz
Asturias
Arr. Tye Austin

Enrique Granados (1867–1916)
Danza Española
Arr. Tye Austin

Joaquín Malats (1872–1912)
Serenata Española
Arr. Tye Austin

Anonymous (19th century)
Romanza Española

Manuel de Falla (1876–1946)
Homenaje
Danza del Molinero
Canción del Fuego Fatuo

Miguel Llobet (1878–1938)
El Testament d’Amelia
Cançó del Lladre
El Noi de la Mare

Federico M. Torroba (1891–1982)
Torija
Romance de los Pinos
Madroños

LATIN AMERICAN GUITAR REPERTOIRE

Zequinha de Abreu (1880–1935)
Tico Tico no Fuba
Arr. Tye Austin

João Pernambuco (1883–1947)
Sons de Carrilhões

Agustín Barrios (1885–1944)
La Catedral

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959)
Chôros No. 1

Consuelo Velázquez (1916–2005)
Bésame Mucho
Arr. Tye Austin

Antonio Lauro (1917-1986)
Andreina
Virgilio
Natalia

Luiz Bonfá (1922–2001)
Manhã de Carnaval
Arr. Tye Austin

Jorge Morel (1931–2021)
Danza Brasileira

Leo Brouwer (b. 1939)
Danza Caracteristica
Berceuse (Cuban Lullaby)

Máximo Diego Pujol (b. 1957)
Candombe en mi

Tye Austin (b. 1989)
Tango Fumar
Bossa Floresta
Waters Willamette