Sky Orchestra, a project created and produced in Bristol, will wake up Londoners to the sound of music, as seven hot air balloons projecting sweet melodies soar above the capital, heralding a year to go to the 2012 Games.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has teamed up with the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) to bring Bristol artist Luke Jerram's Sky Orchestra to the city. Taking place over the next six days, Sky Orchestra also marks LIFT's 30th anniversary for groundbreaking - and in this case uplifting and gravity defying - productions.

From today and over the next five mornings, and some evenings, the seven balloons will take off in quick succession from the launch site, gradually rising to a height of around 500 feet, to be seen - and heard - as they float across the capital. Amplified to be heard by people at ground level, each of the balloons will broadcast a different element of the musical score, which has been composed by award winning British musician Dan Jones. Together, the music from the balloons will create a massive, but graceful, sonic landscape, a musical wake up call or gentle lullaby. Follow the balloons at skyorchestra.co.uk and on twitter @skyorchestra.

Luke Jerram said:

'A form of acoustic urban art, Sky Orchestra questions the boundaries of public artwork, private space and the ownership of the sky. The aim is to lift the sleeping public into a space on the edge of sleep, and to inspire their imaginations through sound. Each balloon plays a different element of the musical score creating a massive audio landscape. Like whales calling in the ocean, the same sounds may be heard in succession passing from one balloon to another across the sky.'

The public will be able to track The Sky Orchestra balloons live as they move across London on a Google map. The site has been created by Watershed, Bristol City Council and Play Nicely to promote Bristol's involvement in this high profile event. The live balloon data is captured by a custom-built Android phone app, created by The Pervasive Media Studio, which records the balloon's GPS position every 10 seconds and uses the mobile network to relay this information to the web site. The innovative technologies used within this project will allow people from all over the world to interact with the project as it zooms over London.

Clare Reddington of Watershed said:

'Luke Jerram is resident in Watershed's Pervasive Media Studio and when we heard about the project, we offered our support. The Studio team have built a mobile phone app which will track the balloons and relay the data to the website, which has been designed by Bristol agency Play Nicely. This blend of creativity and technology reflects Bristol's strengths around innovation, particularly in the mobile space'.

Simon Cook, Bristol City Council deputy leader said: 'We are very excited to be supporting such a high profile project which characterises the creativity, ingenuity and unorthodox approach of our city. As Bristol is home to both Luke Jerram and a world-famous ballooning Festival, this is a perfect opportunity to celebrate and profile Bristol within the opening weekend of the Olympics count-down'.

Sky Orchestra has been created by local artist Luke Jerram, renowned for bringing pianos to the streets of Bristol and London, and BAFTA and Ivor Novello award-winning composer and musician Dan Jones. FFI: skyorchestra.co.uk

Sky Orchestra helps launch Open Weekend 2011, which is part of the four year Cultural Olympiad programme, and runs until Sunday.