Slovenian born pianist Petra Peršolja was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance by the University of California Santa Barbara in June 2020. A year earlier she was awarded the UCSB Graduate Division Fellowship for the dissertation research on the topic of the Istrian Scale, the Young Artists Fellowship by the Manchester Music Festival and was featured by the CAMA Santa Barbara Masterclass series with pianist Richard Goode.

Since residing in Santa Barbara Dr. Peršolja was the winner of the Chamber Music Competition at the University of California SB, at the International Liszt Competition in Los Angeles she got the second prize with the performance of Tarantella from Années de pèlerinage, she was nominated graduate student for events such as Montage, the Music Department's Showcase, the University of California Music Affiliates Musicale, Santa Barbara Music Club, UCSB Chamber players, Contemporary Music Ensable and was the featured Artist for children's concert at the 2020 UCSB Music Festival.

Ms. Peršolja holds a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Hawaii where she was the winner of the Concerto competition with a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the UH Symphony Orchestra, recipient of the John Young Award in the Arts, Dai Ho Chun Scholarship, Outstanding Upper Division Student Scholarship, Merit Achievement in Piano Performance, and others. Among others, she took part at masterclasses with Gilbert Kalish from Stony Brook, James Giles from the Northwestern Bienen School of Music, Kevin Fitz-Gerald from USC and Sara Davis Buechner from Temple University.

She holds two Bachelor degrees of Music in Piano Performance from Rowan University in New Jersey, and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Ljubljana. From earlier years she received the Brahms Award at the International Music Competition Francesco Forgione in Italy for which the Associazione Dino Ciani honored her with a Solo Recital Series, third prize at the NJMTA competition in Princeton, the Scarlatti Award and two Golden medals at the National Competition for Young Musicians of the Republic of Slovenia for piano solo and piano duo category.

Dr. Peršolja resides in the area of Santa Clara, California, where due to Covid-19 limitations she has adapted her performances and piano teaching to online format.