Music is a flowing painting, and painting is music made still. Two students from Class 8(4) — Bonbon Xu, talented in piano performance, and Sarah Yang, passionate about painting — connected through their shared love of art. With the thoughtful guidance of Ms. Mandy and Mr. Bao, they carefully planned a salon that beautifully blended sound and color. On the autumn afternoon of October 10, 2025, the 124th Art Salon, Sound and Color, Eternal Starlight, took place as scheduled, filling the room with guests and a warm, joyful atmosphere.

The salon opened with Bonbon Xu’s performance of Haydn’s Piano Sonata in C major, Hob.XVI:50. Its bright and brilliant tone resembled the golden sunlight streaming through the window. This Classical-period work combines the elegance of courtly music with Haydn’s distinctive wit and playfulness. As Bonbon shared during her introduction: “When I play this piece, vivid images often come to mind—sometimes birds singing on the branches, other times kittens playing in the garden.”

Complementing the music were Sarah Yang’s paintings — A Piano Catwalk, When a Cat Doesn’t Sleep, and Three Colors of a Cat’s World. Vivid and dreamlike, each piece captures her playful and imaginative spirit. “Dreams and animals have always been my favorite themes, especially cats,” Sarah shared with a smile. “People often call black cats elegant, but I found them just as mischievous as any others—so I let this unconventional black cat take center stage.”

The inspiration for When a Cat Doesn’t Sleep came from her 3D art teacher’s cat,which “never sleeps and jumps around on electronic drums late at night.”When a Cat Doesn’t Sleep blends rhythm with piano-like color in bright rainbow tones. Three Colors of a Cat’s World bursts with youthful energy and dreamlike hues. With Sarah’s lively commentary and colorful imagination, the first half of the salon came to a delightful close.

In the second half of the salon, Bonbon Xu performed Schumann’s Abegg Variations. At the age of 19, Schumann met the enchanting Miss Abegg at a ball and, inspired, transposed her name—ABEGG—into a series of musical notes. The ABEGG motif recurs throughout the variations, echoing like voices in a valley or murmuring softly, each repetition weaving the young composer’s adoration and longing. The piece is tender and delicate, while its virtuosic passages are both dazzling and gripping, posing a formidable challenge for the performer.

Sarah Yang presented three paintings: Cat Dream, Claw United, and When the Sun Rises. Cat Dream was created spontaneously for this art salon, executed in pointillism, and its exquisite vitality is remarkable given it was completed in just two weeks. The final piece, When the Sun Rises, was even more spectacular, specially created to accompany Bonbon Xu’s performance of Iron Blood, Red Heart. Against a golden desert sky, a giant eagle soars with outstretched wings, chasing the rising sun. Interwoven rainbow rays render the sunlit world dreamlike and vivid.

The salon’s grand finale featured Bonbon performing the theme from The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Iron Blood, Red Heart. The sweeping, heartfelt music stirred nostalgia among the audience. Amidst flowers and applause, the 124th Art Salon concluded splendidly—truly a vibrant and unforgettable event.