Pia Siirala was born in Helsinki and studied at the Sibelius Academy and at the Budapest Liszt Academy with Professor Vermes Maria. After her diploma she continued her studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of the Professor, Zoria Schickmurzaeva.

Following these studies Pia Siirala became the leader of 
Ensemble XXI which she co-founded with Lygia O’Riordan.

During the orchestra's tours to the regions she became acquainted with the music of the indigenous people of the Russian North. In 2004 and 2006 she collected the music of the Nivkhs on Sakhalin. Based on these materiasl she has composed the following works Nivkh Themes (2004), Suite for solo violin (2007) and Ulita's Walk (2007).