Perla Alara Kurşun was born in 2004 in Ankara. In 2012, she started taking private piano lessons from Elena Kerimova. In 2013, she continued the piano lessons with Aylin Doğan and solfege lessons from Cem Doğan at Boğaziçi Art Academy. In 2014, she was accepted to Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory and started studying with Gülden Gökşen. In 2016, she continued her studies under Melin Molla. She has been studying with İris Şentürker since September 2021.

In April 2019, Kurşun came second in the Musical Fireworks at Baden-Württemberg Piano Competition, which she participated in for the first time, in Germany. In January 2022, she received the second prize in the “Wiener KIasiker” 6. Danubia Talents International Piano Competition. In April 2022, she participated in the 3rd Rhapsody Piano Competition. Kurşun had masterclasses with Vincenzo Balzani, Mauricio Vallina, Gülsin Onay, Rüya Taner, Tamara Poddubnaya, Cem Babacan, Özgür Ünaldı, Emre Elivar, Beril Çalgan, Gereon Kleiner, Mehmet Okonşar, Tomislav Baynov, Alfredo Perl, Zsuzsanna Csaszar, Markus Becker, and Joanna Maria Lawrynowicz. In 2019, she was accepted to a two-week training program with Wolfgang Watzinger at Wiener Musikseminar in Vienna and had the opportunity to work on her playing technique.

Kurşun works regularly with İdil Biret at the Ayvalık International Music Academy (AIMA) and takes part in the festival programme every year. She continues her piano and chamber music studies with İris Şentürker at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul State Conservatory.