Artist Xiong Ninghui translated his passion for classical music onto canvas, creating visual sounds through his oil paintings. His music-inspired artworks are on display at the Poly Theatre in downtown Beijing during10th Beijing Music Festival. The works on show at the solo exhibition are executed in diverse painting styles, yet all bear titles associated with classical music pieces. In the oil painting entitled Garden& Sergei Rachmaninov, Paiano Preludes, Op32, Nos 11, the artist captures in a realistic approach the breath-taking beauty of the blooming flowers in a garden after a summer rain. In another piece entitled Dancing, Vivaldi, Concerto in F Major, RV 584, he conveys the tender feelings evoked by music in a dreamy, Impressionist fashion.Another work, revealing his impression of Mozart’s elegant and brisk Adagio in E Violin and Orchestra K261, renders the painting in a poetic, Abstractionist style.“Classic music is an integral part of my life,” said Xiong, 43, a Nanjing native brought up in Shanghai and trained in both violin and oil painting.“When I am listening to a favorite music work, colors, lights and forms would conjure up in my mind, some from my memories of childhood, from my extensive life and traveling experience, some others from God-knows-where.”He first discovered his affinity with classical music and his ability to visualize music tunes back in the 1980s as a high school student, when his parents bought him a music tape from the US as a gift, containing works by Vivaldi.“When I played the music tape, I was immediately attracted by Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto Four Seasons,” said Xiong, who “not only heard the wonderful melody but also saw in my mind a vivid, colorful picture.”Xiong hoped he could record those impressions of the music in his paintings. So, he began learning the basic of painting from his granduncle - Lou Qinglan, who is an old artist graduated from Master Liu Haishu’s Shanghai Fine Arts College in 1940s, and Chinese Calligraphy from his grandfather – Zhao Tingfang, who is also an old artist of Chinese Calligraphy, an student from Master Sha Menghai. At university, he continued learning oil painting techniques from art professors.After reading about art history, Xiong discovered that the association between music and color had already been recognized and made use of by such master painters as Russian Abstract Expressionist Wassily Kandinsky.“My works have yet to catch as much attention as those by Kandinsky. But I believe my works, which speak out the voice of my heart, can win the heart of the audience,” Xiong said.