The second instalment of the State Library of NSW’s 200th anniversary concerts was a thoughtful collaboration of music, drama and animation, illuminating the library’s extensive collection of the Scott Sisters’ scientific illustrations.

The Scott Sisters: Pioneers of Science and Art was conceptualised and directed by Skye McIntosh, artistic director of the Australian Haydn Ensemble, and commissioned by the State Library. The production detailed the lives of Harriet (Tierney Clark) and Helena Scott (Madeline Flood), and their father, Alexander Walker Scott (Ren Watson), 19th-century naturalists who produced trailblazing compendiums on Australia’s insects and flora.

Skye McIntosh, Ella Bennetts, Katie Yap and Edwina Cordingley: The Scott Sisters: Pioneers of Science and Art. Photo supplied

Najwa Adams-Ebel completed the four-person cast as Lucy, an Awabakal woman whose knowledge and narrative interweave with the colonial experiences of the Scott family. This small cast deftly juggled a variety of roles between them, from Ludwig van Beethoven to David Scott Mitchell, the namesake of the Mitchell Library.

In period attire, seated to the side of the stage, the Australian Haydn Ensemble’s string quartet provided interludes between each of these vignettes. Skye McIntosh, Ella Bennetts (violins), Katie Yap (viola) and Edwina Cordingley (cello) began with selected movements from Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 132. Dynamically unified, the ensemble curated the intimate ambience of the salon.

This was followed by Elena Kats-Chernin’s Butterflying, accompanied by a dazzling animation of the Scott Sisters’ original illustrations.

Madeline Flood and Tierney Clark in The Scott Sisters: Pioneers of Science and Art. Photo supplied

The musical highlight of the evening was Cordingley’s solo cello feature, a reverent and stirring interpretation of Marais’ Les Voix Humaines. It was a fitting prelude to the ensemble’s final work, Tullia Cairns’ nostalgic Ripples and Reflections, which was commissioned especially for the production, and a tender conclusion to a journey across life, death and scientific endeavour.

The vast creative team behind this production should be applauded: The Scott Sisters combined artistry across disciplines with powerful storytelling, resulting in a fitting tribute to 200 years of innovation, curiosity and knowledge.

This event was part of the Library’s 200th Anniversary Festival, a six-week program of performances, talks and free live music.