Born in 1996, Clara Petit began her musical training at the age of six by studying the piano at the Chartres Conservatoire, before discovering the viola three years later. After obtaining a DEM in 2014, she continued her studies at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatoire under Michel Michalakakos.
In December 2015, she was a prize-winner at the National Competition for Young Violists (Second Prize), before being admitted a few months later to the Paris Conservatoire – CNSMDP, in the class of Sabine Toutain and Christophe Gaugué. During her studies, she took part in an Erasmus exchange programme and went to study at the Musikhochschule in Lübeck, in the class of Pauline Sachse. She completed her Master’s degree in 2021.

Clara Petit has performed with various youth orchestras, including the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. She took part in the academies of the Paris Chamber Orchestra and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, before joining the Academy of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam for the 2021/2022 season.

She joined the Orchestre de Paris in September 2022.