Wilder Frets: Classical Guitar in the Wilderness

Where Nature Sings with Nylon Strings.

Founded in 2025 by Oregonian classical guitar virtuoso and Artistic Director, Tye Austin, M.M., Wilder Frets: Classical Guitar in the Wilderness is a fiscally sponsored concert series of Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts service organization, that replaces the traditional concert hall with breathtaking wilderness landscapes across the Pacific Northwest. A portable pop-up stage is installed to showcase the art of classical guitar through solo and chamber music concerts, presented in State and National Parks, natural hot springs, alpine lakes, underground caves, canyons, old-growth forests, coastal bluffs, historic sites, wineries, farms, ranches, and urban green spaces. Guests may sit near the stage and/or roam freely through the wilderness while listening to the concert on wireless headphones in an immersive experience that deepens their connection to the music, nature, and community.

MISSION

Our mission is to create a living dialogue between music, community, and the environment — one that nourishes both the wildness of the human spirit and our collective responsibility to preserve the wilderness landscapes that inspire us.

VISION

Our vision is to transform the Pacific Northwest into an open-air concert stage — a landscape where music and wilderness coexist in harmony. Wilder Frets also envisions a world where the barriers that separate people from art — cost, geography, privilege — are dissolved.

Programs

I. Wilderness Concert Series

The Wilderness Concert Series is the heart of Wilder Frets, presenting intimate, open-air classical guitar performances each summer led by internationally acclaimed guitarist and naturalist Tye Austin. Set in breathtaking wilderness landscapes—from coastal bluffs and alpine lakes to old-growth forests and underground lava caves—each concert harmonizes with the site’s natural acoustics and ecology, blending classical guitar repertoire with the sounds of wind, water, and wildlife. Imagine hearing Tarrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra resonating off the walls of Oregon Caves National Monument, or Tye Austin’s original composition, Songs of the Western Meadowlark, harmonizing with the calls of the state bird amid the sagebrush high deserts of Eastern Oregon. Experiences may include local storytelling, environmental education, and guided meditations, creating a deeply immersive connection between music, place, and audience. A portion of ticket sales supports parks, outdoor recreation, and conservation organizations.

II. Emerging Artist Residencies & Celebrity Guest Artist Series

The Emerging Artist Residency (EAR) and Celebrity Guest Artist Series (CGAS) connect artists and audiences with the natural world while showcase the classical guitar’s versatility in chamber music settings. Under Tye Austin’s leadership, EAR provides emerging artists—classical guitarists, opera vocalists, violinists, cellists, harpists, marimbists, percussionists, and string quartets—with meaningful, fairly compensated performance opportunities. Performers and composers collaborate with scientists, poets, and Indigenous knowledge-keepers, often creating new works inspired by the ecosystems and cultures they encounter. Complementing this, CGAS brings internationally acclaimed artists such as Eliot Fisk, Sharon Isbin, and Miloš Karadaglić into intimate wilderness settings to perform chamber and orchestral music alongside our Artistic Director.

III. Masterclasses & Youth Education

Free access to world-class music education is central to Wilder Frets’ mission, which offers a clear pathway from first exposure to long-term artistic growth through masterclasses, intensive training, and sustained mentorship. Pre-concert masterclasses connect musicians of all ages and skill levels with Tye Austin and other leading classical guitarists in outdoor settings. Select participants will be awarded full-ride scholarships to attend our two-week summer intensive music camp at rotating wilderness retreats. Building on this access, the Free Frets Initiative provides underserved youth across the Pacific Northwest with instruments, lessons, and mentorship at no cost, delivering weekly instruction, music camps, performances, and nature-based learning through partnerships with community organizations, tribal groups, and after-school music programs.

The Wilder Sound: Innovation & Design

In order to address the distinctive acoustic demands of performing open-air concerts in the wilderness, Wilder Frets uses state-of-the-art wireless headphones and subtle amplification to deliver concert hall–quality sound and acoustics that blends seamlessly with the natural environment. Audiences can wander through forests, lie in sunlit meadows, or explore hidden glens while the music becomes a living soundtrack to their surroundings. This innovative approach creates performances that are both intimate and expansive, allowing the landscape itself to carry the sound, while ensuring accessibility for those with hearing sensitivities. By eliminating intrusive amplification and protecting fragile ecosystems, Wilder Frets combines artistic excellence with environmental stewardship, redefining how music can be experienced in nature.

Wilder Media: Audio & Video Production

Beyond the intimate energy of our live performances, we aim to preserve and share the unique magic of these wilderness concerts with audiences world-wide. Each note played among old-growth trees and under open skies will be captured through high-quality live streams, bringing the immersive experience directly to viewers no matter where they are. In addition, carefully crafted album recordings and cinematic music videos will allow listeners to revisit the serene beauty and raw emotion of these performances again and again. By blending the artistry of the classical guitar with the untamed ambiance of the natural world, we hope to create a musical journey that resonates far beyond the forest, inviting audiences around the globe to experience the classical guitar as they’ve never heard it before.

Wilder’s genesis: Project Inspiration

When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered live music venues indefinitely in 2020, Artistic Director Tye Austin was forced to reimagine both what a concert could be and where it could exist, turning to wilderness landscapes across the Pacific Northwest to replace the traditional concert hall. Determined to build a resilient, artist-centered concert model independent of venue closures and government shutdowns, Tye found inspiration in the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Music and Theatre Projects, which, sustained artists and supported free public concerts and theatrical performances—often outdoors—to communities across the United States during the Great Depression while Americans were still recovering from the 1919 Spanish Flu Pandemic. Rooted in this history, Wilder Frets advances equitable access to the arts by offering free or deeply subsidized concerts and masterclasses for low-income and historically underserved communities through our Arts Access Program, ensuring live music remains a source of connection, livelihood, and collective healing for all. Click here to learn more about our story.

Wilder Frets Tour – 2026

Wilder Frets is planning 50+ concerts at various wilderness locations in Oregon, California, and Washington State during our inaugural concert season between June-September, 2026. In the future, we intend to expand to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North & South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii. Click here to view the entire Wilder Frets Tour 2026!

Support Us

Wilder Frets is currently raising $1,000,000 to launch our inaugural concert season between June 5-September 27, 2026. You can donate securely online through our fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts service organization. Click here to learn more about our fiscal sponsorship, prospectus, giving tiers, annual budget, business plan, and more.