Born in Nuremberg in 1960, he studied mathematics at the  Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, as  well as cello and conducting at the Meistersinger Conservatoire  in Nuremberg. He went on to study composition with Nicolaus  A. Huber and electroacoustic composition with Dirk Reith at  the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen, as well as attending  composition courses taught by Jonathan Harvey and Brian Ferneyhough.

In 1996–97 he undertook a period of artistic and research work  at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music  and Acoustics (CCRMA). In 2000–1 he held a teaching position  in composition and architecture at the Technical University of  Darmstadt. From 2012 to 2014 he was Professor of Composition  at Chung-Ang University in Seoul and Anseong, South Korea. He has received numerous prizes and distinctions, including  the Carl Gulbenkian Prize (1993), Kranichsteiner Music Prize  (1996), 1st Prizes in Bourges (2003) and at Stuttgart Composition Competition (2005), as well as a 2nd Prize ex aequo in Yekaterinburg (2015). Fellowships and residencies have taken him  to the Deutsches Studienzentrum in Venice (2006), Künstlerhof  Schreyahn (2009), Villa Serpentara in Olevano Romano, and  Villa Aurora in Los Angeles (both 2010).

His music has been featured at leading contemporary music  festivals and concert series, including Ars Musica in Brussels,  ECLAT in Stuttgart, Transit in Leuven, Ultraschall in Berlin,  Melos-Étos in Bratislava, Musica in Strasbourg, Núcleo Música  Nueva de Montevideo, Tage für Neue Musik Zürich, Musica  Scienza in Rome, Sonorities in Belfast, Bernaola Zikloa in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Seoul International Computer Music Festival, and  the New York Philharmonic Biennial.

Recordings of Eckert’s music have appeared on ambitus, col legno,  NEOS, kreuzberg records and Mode Records labels. Produced  in cooperation with Ensemble Reflexion K and Deutschlandfunk, on the edges was included on the Long List for the German  Record Critics’ Award’s Quarterly Critic’s Choice in March 2016.  His most recent album, night, falling, was named Best Album of  2025 by the British contemporary-music publication 5:4.