Palina began composing for piano at age 10. After taking jazz, arranging, and composition lessons at Carleton College with Laura Caviani, Andrea Mazzariello, Matthew Olson, and Alican Camci, Palina is confident in composing and arranging in many genres for brass sections, vocal ensembles, percussion, and piano. Her music reflects her diverse music education in jazz, western classical, Latin, West African, and multiple contemporary styles. Recently, she has utilized found sounds in her compositions, specifically using recordings of train horns heard outside her home to construct chord progressions paired with an improvised vocal part.

Palina is currently working on arranging Benjamin Clementine’s “I Won’t Complain” for SATB choir. Click here to view sheet music of her finished arrangements.

From May 2020 to May 2021, Palina worked as the music director for KE Animation studio. She composed and produced film scores for the three first films that the studio created. View the third film above.