"We are still friends and I was working with him as recently as this past January," says Biali.

Music has always been a great part of her life: Her mother often played church hymns on the piano when she was growing up. Her parents enrolled her in classical piano lessons when she was 4.

She wrote her first song at the age of 12, which was a "spooky Halloween piano composition" called The Spells.

Biali says she turned her passion for music into a career "organically".

"I received scholarships to go to university and pursue a degree in sciences, but I decided I would go to jazz school for fun, just to try it for a year. I ended up staying the length of the whole program and getting a degree in jazz performance," recalls Biali, who moved to Toronto to attend Humber College on scholarships at 19.

She now draws inspiration from the music she has been listening to over the years - her favorite classical composers plus a host of artists from genres as diverse as pop, rock, gospel and world music.

She's released six albums so far, including Tracing Light, which received a Juno (Canada's version of the Grammys) nomination in 2011 for best vocal jazz album of the year.

Biali considers each new album as an exciting chance to see "how the music connects with people. What moves them? How do the songs and arrangements touch their lives? Is the music having an impact?".

Biali and her jazz ensemble show will be part of the ongoing Meet in Beijing arts festival, the capital's oldest arts event, organized by China Arts and Entertainment Group, which was founded in 1957.

In its 16th year, the festival is featuring Canada as the guest country of honor.

During the past three weeks, famed Canadian artists have performed in Beijing, including the Ottawa Bach Choir, the Ensemble Caprice Baroque Orchestra and a troupe from Vancouver's renowned dance school, the Goh Ballet Academy.

Those performances were recommended and coordinated by the Canadian Fund for International Understanding Through Culture.