Arija Purvs was born in Leicester ,England in 1953. She graduated from Ryerson University in 1976 with a Diploma in Liberal Arts.

She has studied the organ with Dr. Anita Gaide, John Tuttle and Lydia Pedersen. She is a graduate of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto with an A.R.C.T. in Organ Performance (2004.), She received the Kathryn Sinclair Prize for Music History from the Royal Conservatory of Music for achieving a mark of 100% on the examination, the highest mark across Canada in the year 2000 for this subject.

She received the Diploma in Service Playing (1988) from the Royal Canadian College of Organists and she has been a member since 1975.

She has worked as an organist at St. Andrew's Latvian Church for their English services from 1985-1987. From 1994 to 1999, she was organist of the Olivet Church of the New Jerusalem.
Since 2003 she has been a member of the St. Andrew's Latvian Church Music Committee and she is also the subsitute organist.

Since 2002, she has been a member of "The Hymn Society" and since 2005, she has taken various music courses at the University of Toronto's School of Theology. She has played at the
1997 Toronto Organ Days at St. John's Latvian Lutheran Church and in 2006, she participated in the "Six Organists Concert", also at St. John's.

She worked for the Province of Ontario's Ministry of Transportation for 25 years as a Human Resources Consultant. In 1991, she received her CP (Certified Personnel Professional) designation from the International Personnel Management Association. She was raising her son Kristaps Roze and also a member of the Latvian woman's sorority "Aurora".

1988. gadā iegūst "Service Playing Diploma" no Kanadas Karaliskas ērğelnieku koledžas, kuras biedre ir kopš 1975. gada. Strādājusi par ērģelnieci Sv. Andreja draudzes angļu valodas dievkalpojumos 1985-1987 gados, kanadiešu Swedenborga draudze 1994-1999 un kopš 2003. darbojās Sv. Andreja draudzes mūzikas komitejā un ir draudzes ērģelnieka atvietotāja.

Kopš 2002. gada ir biedre "The Hymn Society". Spelējusi 1997. gada Ērģeļu dienās Toronto un
2006.gada Sesu latviešu ērģelnieku kopkoncerta Sv. Jāņa baznīcā.

25 gadus nostrādājusi Ontario provinces valdibā un kā " Human Resources Consultant" 1991. gadā iegūvusi" International Personnel Management Association" designāciju CPP (Certified Personnel Professional). Audzina dēlu Kristapu Rozi un ir korporācijas Auroras locekle.