The State Library of NSW will mark its 200th anniversary with a six-week performance festival featuring new works from Nunukul and Munaldjali artist Stephen Page and Kalkadunga composer William Barton.
Running across September and October, the program will include performances, talks and live music inspired by the Library's collections and spaces.
The works were developed through creative residencies held at the Library during the past two years.
Nunukul and Munaldjali man and Former Bangarra Dance Theatre artistic director Stephen Page will open the anniversary performance program with 'RECLAIM: A Contemporary Ceremony' in the Mitchell Library Reading Room.
The work combines dance, spoken word, poetry and music to explore First Nations stories from First Contact through to the present day.
Mr Page developed the work after spending time in the Library's archives and working with Bundjalung librarian Melissa Jackson.
He reflected on how the research shaped the work.
"Spending time in the archives talking to long-term librarian and Bundjalung woman Melissa Jackson has both educated and inspired me," Mr Page said.
"Never short of a story, Melissa has connected me deeply to the wonder and spirit of Sydney's Koori ancestors, tracing our history across this place from the ancient to the contemporary."
'RECLAIM' will be performed on September 11 and 12.
Kalkadunga composer and yidaki master William Barton will follow with Earth Flow in the Mitchell Library Reading Room on September 18 and 19.
The work responds to the Library's role as a keeper of stories and reimagines the space as a living system of interconnected knowledge.
Earth Flow will feature Aunty Delmae Barton, Jack Thompson, Ray Martin, the Sydney Street Choir and guest musicians and performers across poetry, movement, sound and song.
The performance will also include the premiere of Barton's new composition Song Book, written for the Library.
Mr Barton drew on his experiences performing in regional libraries while developing the work.
"I have always been inspired by the idea of libraries as living organisms, and touring regional libraries in NSW and performing with local communities this year reaffirmed this," he said.
"I am excited to bring some of the stories from communities in Tamworth, Dubbo, Gosford and Nowra back to the State Library of NSW in September.
"My new piece 'Song Book' responds to the Library's role as a keeper of stories over two centuries — the holder of a vast archive reflecting the lives that link us to each other and networks that light the pathways to our futures as well as our pasts."
The anniversary program will also include 'The Scott Sisters: Pioneers of Science and Art', created by Australian Haydn Ensemble artistic director Skye McIntosh.
Inspired by 19th-century naturalists and illustrators Harriet and Helena Scott, the production combines animation, theatre and classical music using material from the Library's collections.
Bell Shakespeare will also present A Night at the Library, written by Joanna Erskine, following a young student who encounters historical and literary characters while spending a night inside the Library.
The State Library's wider anniversary festival will include the Sydney Writers' Festival's free Homegrown program and Spring Sessions, a weekly series of free live music performances on the Library forecourt.
The 200th Anniversary Festival runs across September and October, with tickets for the performance program now on sale through the State Library of NSW website.
