Call and Response: Musical Dialogues Inspired by the Collections

What did music sound like in early colonial NSW?
In an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Hearing the Music of Early NSW 1788-1860, adjacent and connected musical practices across Indigenous, classical, popular and folk music traditions in Australia have been explored using performance as a tool to unlock sonic histories. A snow making song, once sung on Ngarigu Country has been revitalised through this work as has a fishing song once sung at the now site of the Sydney Opera House. The very first example of settler music written in Australia, William Cavendish’s Fairy Quadrilles and Waltzes from 1833, has also been performed on rare nineteenth-century instruments at Sydney’s historic Elizabeth Bay House.
This concert from 5 October 2024 presented by the University of Sydney and the State Library of NSW showcases these uncovered musical traditions and features leading scholars and performers from the University of Sydney including Neal Peres Da Costa, Jacinta Tobin, Toby Martin, Daniel Yeadon, Anna Fraser, Julia Russoniello, Mikaela Oberg and the Ngarigo Nation Indigenous Corporation.