Wilder Frets: Classical Guitar in the Wilderness at TouVelle Park

Name: Wilder Frets: Classical Guitar in the Wilderness at TouVelle Park
Start: 2026-08-18T17:30:00-07:00
End: 2026-08-19T17:30:00-07:00
Location: Tou Velle State Park

Schedule

Tue, 18 Aug, 2026 at 05:30 pm to Wed, 19 Aug, 2026 at 05:30 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

Tou Velle State Park | Central Point, OR

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

TouVelle State Recreation Site is situated along the banks of the Rogue River in southern Oregon, where slow-moving waters, riparian woodlands, and open meadows create a quiet transition between river valley and high desert landscapes. Just upstream, the iconic Table Rocks (Upper and Lower Table Rock) rise abruptly above the Rogue Valley as broad, flat-topped mesas formed from ancient Columbia River basalt flows that were later uplifted and carved by millions of years of erosion. Together, these landscapes reflect a deep geologic story: lava once spread across vast portions of the Pacific Northwest, later cooling into dense basalt that now caps the striking tabletop formations overlooking the valley. For thousands of years, this region has also held cultural importance for the Takelma and other Indigenous peoples of the Rogue Valley, who lived in close relationship with the river corridor and surrounding uplands, following seasonal cycles of fishing, gathering, and trade. Today, the area remains a place where ecological richness and geologic drama converge—wildflowers and oak savannas thrive beneath the shadow of the Table Rocks, while the Rogue River continues to shape the land much as it has for millennia.

Guests are invited to enhance their experience by joining a guided whitewater rafting excursion with a local outfitter before the concert. The scenic float travels from Dodge Bridge to TouVelle State Park, offering a memorable journey through one of Southern Oregon’s most scenic stretches of the Rogue River before arriving in time for the concert.

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