Ilkley’s hills will be alive with the sound of sirens, when Bradford musician Jez Colborne performs his stirring new symphony against the striking backdrop of the Cow and Calf rocks.

Jez has been awarded £16,517 to compose an open-air choral spectacular celebrating the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He is one of the first ten learning disabled artists commissioned to create original work celebrating the Games.

He has created a ‘symphony of sirens’ called Irresistible, combining warning sirens, musical instruments and singing voices. Jez has worked with Bradford theatre company Mind the Gap on the open-air piece, which will be per-formed at Ilkley Moor’s Cow and Calf rocks and around London’s South Bank as part of the London 2012 Olympic Festival.

The funding has been awarded to Jez and Mind the Gap, which supports actors with disabilities, by London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, along with Arts Council England, the UK Arts Councils and the British Council.

Jez, who plays keyboards and harmonica, hopes the performance will help people “think differently about people with learning disabilities”.

He adds: “Irresistible is a song cycle, a stirring musical and visual experience that combines warning sirens, traditional and non-traditional instruments and human voices. I have taken inspiration from the myth of Odysseus, who used his cunning to escape the lure of the Sirens.

“I feel really proud to be part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. The show feels Olympian, it’s about heroes and the journeys they go through to complete a challenge.”

Jez’s award was made in the final round of Unlimited Commissions, a £3 million programme celebrating arts and culture by disabled and deaf artists, principally funded by the National Lottery.

Pete Massey, senior manager of Arts Council England in Yorkshire, described Irresistible as an “atmospheric, site-specific work” which impressed audiences in its earlier incarnation, following performances at the Cow and Calf rocks and Lister Mills.

Irresistible – Call Of Sirens will be performed outdoors at the Cow and Calf rocks, Ilkley Moor, on Thursday, June 21 at 7pm and 10.30pm and Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23 at 6.30pm and 9pm.

There will also be a preview at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, on Saturday, April 21, at 8.45pm.

Jez will be talking about his work and musical repertoire as part of the Transform Festival, presenting a celebratory programme of work by theatre-makers from the region.

Meanwhile, Mind the Gap’s Chicken Coup performers will be entertaining crowds at the launch event of Bradford’s City Park tomorrow. There will be street theatre from the Chicken Coup between 2.30pm and 6pm.