At a mere 255 years of age, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart celebrated his birthday last month with after school program (ASP) students at Kedron Elementary.

The students have celebrated Mozart’s birthday on January 27 for the last nine years. Since Mozart could not be there in person, a student dressed up like the composer and walked around the school answering questions about him and directing everyone to the birthday party.

As part of the celebration, students created paintings while listening to Mozart’s masterpieces, letting their brushes glide against the paper to the music.

Site Coordinator Christine Clark says her ASP students paint to many composers over the course of the year, but their favorite is Mozart. His music even inspired a couple of holdouts to try their hands at painting.

“We had two students painting who never ever paint. Painting to music is a good way for children to identify feelings through color,” said Clark.