Wilder Frets: Classical Guitar in the Wilderness (Brian Booth State Park)

About Wilder Frets:

For the 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:

Brian Booth State Park and the Beaver Creek State Natural Area Welcome Center sit along Oregon’s central coast within the Beaver Creek estuary, where coastal forests, wetlands, and tidal waters meet the Pacific in a rich, interconnected ecosystem. Shaped by shifting sediments, freshwater inflows, and ocean tides over thousands of years, the landscape supports marshes and riparian corridors lined with Sitka spruce, red alder, and shore pine under the influence of cool maritime air and seasonal fog. The estuary provides vital habitat for salmon, river otters, bald eagles, and migratory birds, reflecting its ecological importance as a sheltered coastal nursery. This region has long been home to Indigenous peoples, including the Alsea and Yaquina, whose lives were closely tied to the estuaries and marine resources of the Oregon Coast. Today, the park offers a quiet setting for kayaking, wildlife viewing, and walking forested trails within one of the coast’s most ecologically significant estuarine environments.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own kayaks or paddle boards to enjoy the concert via wireless headphones while floating on Beaver Creek up to a 1/4 mile radius from the shoreline stage.

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.