Balloon concert for town dreamers

Your pictures of the balloons

People in Shakespeare's birthplace have been given the most unusual free concert, with music played from a series of hot air balloons.

The specially-composed music was played from seven balloons as they floated across Stratford-upon-Avon.

The flying concert, by the Sky Orchestra, was part of an experiment to help stimulate sleepers to dream.

The concert, from dawn on Friday, was part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival.

The music, inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, was played from speakers hanging from the baskets of the balloons.

Dreamlike scenario

A different part of the score was played from each balloon making what the organisers describe as a vast audio landscape across the town.

The effect will be studied by researchers from the University of the West of England looking into the impact of external influences on the way people dream.

Composer Dan Jones said: "The entire scenario is itself dreamlike, a literally unearthly experience that I hope will leave people feeling inspired.

"This is music released from the confines of gravity."