The Sky Orchestra's balloons fill the dawn air with music

Seven hot air balloons, each with speakers attached, take off at dawn to fly across a city. Each balloon plays a different element of the musical score creating a massive audio performance that many hundreds of people experience subconsciously as the balloons fly over their homes.

Many hundreds of people experience the Sky Orchestra event live as the balloons fly over their homes at dawn. The airborne project is both a vast spectacular performance as well as an intimate, personal experience. The music is audible, both consciously and subconsciously, to all those in the balloon's flight paths.

The next Sky Orchestra performance will be over Stratford-Upon-Avon, England on June 21st 2006, commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare company and Fierce Television. This will be followed by a Dream Concert will also be held at Compton Verney on the 30th June.

Each of the Sky Orchestra balloons are equipped with two speakers

Jones has produced 14 separate tracks of music for this innovative experimental art project. Some of the best musicians from around the UK have been utilized for this production including Daniel Newell on Trumpet, Katherine Baker on Piccolo, Philip Harmer on Oboe, Cor Anglais, and Japanese musician Joji Hirota on flute and percussion.

The science behind this musical experience is based on the psychological study that sound can affect the content of a sleeping person's dreams. The majority of dreams occur during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stages of sleep. This stage occurs once every 90 minutes during the night and last for increasingly longer durations of time. The majority of REM dreaming occurs during the morning in periods of up to 40 minutes, and that's the reason Jerram and company chose dawn to launch their provocative concert.

Listen to Dan Jones Sky Orchestra compositions
Watch a short film about the Sky Orchestra

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