Petya Karakoleva graduated magna cum laude from the National School of Music "Dobrin Petkov", Bulgaria with a degree in piano performance and pedagogy in arts and culture. Her acceptance as a piano performance major with a full scholarship brought her to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she studied with Dr. Mykola Suk and
received her Bachelor of Music. She won the Grand Prize in the 2003 James K. Huntzinger Solo Competition and appeared as a soloist with the UNLV Symphony Orchestra. She has received UNLV Piano Department's Honors Jury Award several times. She has been a staff pianist for the music and dance programs at UNLV since 2002. In 2005 she was the pianist for the national conference of the Ballet Masters
of America in Las Vegas. She also has served as a pianist for RAD classes and examinations, as well as a pianist for the Dance Educators of America's yearly summer seminars. In November 2006, she performed with flutist Mr. Paul Edmund-Davis, former
London Symphony Orchestra Principal. She was also a faculty member of the Nevada Ballet Company, Opera Las Vegas Company, Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theater, among others. Petya was on the Nevada School of the Arts faculty from January of 2007 until August of 2008. Most recently, she joined the staff of the prestigious School of Dance as a pianist in September of 2009. She is also a free-lanced performer both as a soloist and a collaborative artist.