Israeli performer and recording artist Achinoam Nini, also known as Noa, and her partner Israeli-Arab Mira Awad, will close their eight-city China tour at Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall on Monday.

The duo will present their classic hits including Waltz to the Road, The Eyes of Love, Child of Man, and Will You Dance With Me, as well as Beautiful That Way, the theme song of the multi-award winning Italian film, Life is Beautiful, composed by Nicola Piovani.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1969, Noa studied music at the Rimon School.

She recalls being "shocked" when Piovani asked her if she was interested in writing the lyrics for the Life is Beautiful song. Its debut in 2000 was a big hit.

"I was so proud that I could be part of the film and believe that the music is just like the film, touching people's hearts around the world," she says.

Noa was the voice of Esmeralda in French for the original soundtrack of the multi-Platinum selling Notre Dame de Paris in 1998. Her song Babel, written in English, French and Hebrew was the theme song for French director Gerarad Pullicino's fantasy movie of the same name in 1999, and topped the charts in France the following year.

Noa and Awad first collaborated 10 years ago. Awad was born in Rama village in Galilee, and also studied at Rimon School. 

They will perform a version of the Beatles' We Can Work It Out, an international hit, at their Beijing concert, besides traditional Chinese folk songs.

China Daily