[2] She had family homes in both Sibiu and Câmpia Turzii; her mother, Clementina, was a graduate of the Timișoara Municipal Conservatory, who encouraged her to take up visual arts (her first and lasting passion), as well as piano—which Carmen studied from the age of five.

[3] Though she received a diploma (presented to her by composer Sabin Drăgoi) during a national music festival,[3] she focused on literature, and, from 1946,[4] took up formal studies in philosophy at the University of Bucharest.

[1] Petra debuted as a composer at this stage, contributing a series of rondos and suites, before moving on to sonatas and symphonies inspired by her direct experience of peasant life in Țara Moților and Crișana.

[3] Petra became teaching assistant at the Bucharest Conservatory in 1962,[4] later becoming lecturer (1966–1972);[2] by 1965, she had been included on the steering committee of the Union of the Composers and Musicologists of Romania (UCMR), and was regularly featured with articles in the trade magazine, Muzica.

[3] She also attended classes at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in 1968,[6] with György Ligeti, Erhard Karkoschka, Günther Becker [de], Christoph Caskel, Saschko Gawriloff, and Aloys Kontarsky.

[5][7] Petra Basacopol composed for orchestra, opera, chamber ensemble, harp, piano, voice, and ballet performance,[4][5][6] often using themes and instruments from folk music.

[2][5] She expanded the expression of the harp, typically associated with delicacy and transparency, by aggressive and strident sonorities, by hammering on the wood, playing close to the table, glissandos and syncopated rhythms, with "archaic sounds" used to "translate inner movements of the soul".

[12] Her Sonata for Flute and Harp was recorded for BIS as part of a collection of music for the two instruments, entitled Toward the Sea, played by Robert Aitken and Erica Goodman [de], and released in 1995.