Translating Emotion: Ece Ünalp’s Platinum-Winning Tribute to Crimson Peak
- WOMCO
- Jul 25
- 3 min read
Ece Ünalp was awarded the Platinum Prize in the Arranged & Transcribed Work category at the 2025 Season 2 Berlioz International Music Competition for her work Selections From 'Crimson Peak'.
Biography
Ece Ünalp is a Boston-based film and media composer — and a two-time award recipient recognized by the Saint-Saëns and Berlioz international music competitions — specializing in orchestral, electronic, and hybrid scores. Currently pursuing a degree in Film and Media Scoring at Berklee College of Music, she blends her classical training with contemporary techniques, drawing inspiration from diverse musical traditions, including Turkish and Middle Eastern influences.
Her experience spans film, live performance, and chamber music, with collaborations ranging from student films to orchestral and video game scoring sessions. As a composer and arranger, Ece has contributed original works to the Berklee Women’s Film Initiative Composer Club and the Berklee Motion Picture Orchestra, crafting dynamic and expressive pieces tailored for a variety of ensembles. Her ability to create emotionally compelling scores has led to performances at college events and professional showcases.
Beyond composition, Ece is an accomplished pianist, cellist, vocalist, and percussionist, performing with ensembles such as the Berklee Greek Ensemble and Berklee Symphonic Winds. She has also released original projects, including Night Studies, a collection of chamber music compositions, and The 1987 Case, a trilogy of electronic and synth-driven EPs.
Fluent in English, Turkish, and French, Ece brings a global perspective to her work, using music as a powerful tool for storytelling. With a passion for film scoring and an innovative approach to orchestration and production, she continues to push creative boundaries, crafting unique soundscapes that elevate visual storytelling.
What inspired you to choose ‘Crimson Peak’ as the piece to arrange and transcribe?
Crimson Peak is one of those films that just stays with you. It’s visually stunning, emotionally intense, and full of this eerie elegance that I love — and the music plays a huge part in that. Fernando Velázquez’s score is honestly one of my favorites; it’s romantic and full of nuance. There’s so much care in the way he builds emotion through texture and melody. I’ve always been drawn to music that sounds beautiful but has something darker simmering underneath, and this score captures that perfectly. It felt like the kind of piece I could sink my teeth into — and also just a great excuse to spend more time with a score I admire a lot.
What aspects of the original score did you feel were most important to preserve or highlight in your arrangement, and why?
The string writing in this score is just stunning, and I knew from the start that I wanted to keep that emotional intensity front and center. There’s this really delicate quality that runs through the whole thing — it’s beautiful, but it’s constantly on edge — and I tried to lean into that tension. I also got pretty obsessive with the textures; the original orchestration is so detailed, and I wanted to stay as true to that as possible while still making the arrangement feel like mine.
What challenges did you encounter during the arranging and transcribing process?
Honestly? Making sure I wasn’t just copying and pasting. I wanted the arrangement to stay true to the original, but still have a bit of my own sound in it. That’s actually why I reorchestrated the cue “Buffalo” — shifting the main melody from woodwinds to strings. It felt better and also gave it a slightly different color while keeping the mood intact. Figuring out how to adapt those kinds of details without losing the emotional weight was definitely a challenge. It took a lot of deep listening (and re-listening) to catch all the little nuances — but honestly, I kind of love that part. It’s nerdy, but really satisfying.
Would you like to share your experience participating in our competition and anyone you'd like to thank (such as mentors, collaborators, or supporters)?
This competition gave me a great excuse to completely nerd out over a score I love, so thank you for that! I entered the competition because I just really wanted my work to be heard, and it made that possible, which means a lot. As composers and arrangers, we spend so much time alone with our scores, so having a space where that work can actually be shared and recognized is really encouraging. I’m super grateful to the judging panel and WOMCO for creating that opportunity. Also, big thanks to my friends at Berklee who gave me feedback and motivation throughout the process, and to everyone who listened to me talk about Crimson Peak way too much while I was working on it.
