Founded in 2025 by Oregonian classical guitar virtuoso and Artistic Director Tye Austin, M.M., Wilder Frets: Classical Guitar in the Wilderness is an open-air concert series that replaces the traditional concert hall with wilderness landscapes across the Pacific Northwest. Our mission is to help humanity reconnect with nature while attending classical guitar concerts staged in the wilderness.

A portable pop-up stage is installed in extraordinary outdoor settings—state and national parks, old-growth forests, coastal beaches, river gorges, volcanic caves, red rock canyons, wineries, farms, ranches, and urban green spaces. Each classical guitar concert is curated in a direct dialogue with the surrounding environment.

Audiences are invited into a fully immersive listening experience: guests may sit near the stage or explore the surrounding environment up to a quarter-mile radius while the music is transmitted to wireless headphones (no Bluetooth or 5G). This concert model creates an intimate connection to music, community, culture and nature—where the wilderness becomes both concert hall and co-composer.

Through our Fret Not Program and Free Frets Initiative, Wilder Frets expands access to both live performance and music education by providing free and subsidized concert tickets, complimentary classical guitars, and pre-concert masterclasses for at-risk youth and underserved communities throughout the Pacific Northwest.