Pia Segerstam studied the cello in Finland at the Espoo Music Institute and at the Sibelius Academy with Seppo Laamanen and Arto Noras. After that she continued her studies at the Paris conservatory (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris) with Michel Strauss and Philippe Muller obtaining the 1st Prize diploma both in cello and in chamber music. During the years 1994-95 she attended the post graduate chamber music class of Christian Ivaldi at the same conservatory. In addition to that she has participated in master classes of William Pleeth, Steven Isserlis, Aldo Parisot, Janos Starker, Frans Helmerson and Julius Berger.

As a soloist she has performed with orchestras such as the Mittel Deutsche Rundfunk Orchestra (Leipzig Neues Gewandhaus), the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Finland and Norway (Helsinki, Oslo) Orchestre National de Lille, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (Rudolfinum Dvorak hall, Prague), The Münchener Rundfunk Orchester (Herkules Saal), Barcelona Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Philharmonic Orchestra (Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon), the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra (Bemus Festival), The Berner Philharmonic Orchestra and with several orchestras in Finland and Sweden: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Turku-, Tampere-, Jyväskylä-, Malmö-, Norrköping-, and Umeå Symphony Orchestras and the Avanti! chamber orchestra.
As a chamber musician Pia Segerstam has given numerous recitals in France, Finland, Germany and Austria.

Pia Segerstam has recorded on CD Nikos Skalkottas’ complete works for cello and piano (AGORA Musica 009), Leif Segerstam’s Epitaph 6 VI for violin, cello and orchestra (ONDINE), works by Leif Segerstam for solo cello or cello & piano (BIS), Victoria Borisova-Ollas' "Im Klosterhofe" for cello, piano and tape (Phono Suecia), Christophe Sirodeau's "Musique Vespérale pour Elsa op.14 : Sumphônia (v)" for solo cello and orchestra, (ALTARUS RECORDS),as well as Christophe Sirodeau's "Arlequis en Rouge et Blanc" for cello and piano (ALTARUS RECORDS).

Her performances have been broadcast by France Musique, the Finnish, Norwegian, Czech Radio, Bayerischer Rundfunk and the Finnish Radio and Television.