Eiko Tsukamoto (*1986 in Kagoshima, Japan) first studied philosophy in Tokyo and at the same time received private composition lessons with Toshio Hosokawa. After completing her philosophy studies, she came to Germany in 2009 and studied composition at the HfMT Cologne with Prof. Johannes Schöllhorn and at the HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin with Prof. Hanspeter Kyburz. She has received commissions for compositions from, among others, KölnMusik, WDR Cologne, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Fondation Royaumont and Musik der Jahrhunderte Stuttgart. She has worked with renowned orchestras and ensembles, including the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Schlagquartett Köln, Ensemble Ascolta, and Klangforum Wien. She is a winner of the 2008 Takefu Composition Award, and in 2018 she won the main prize at the 7th Composition Competition of the Christoph Delz Foundation. Since 2014 she lives and works in Berlin.

During her stay in the Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, she worked on two compositions. For the work „Niemals schläft die Seele“ for string quartet, which she was commissioned to write by the KOLUMBA Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne for the series „Für Aller Seelen“, it was an important question for her how a piece of music could contribute to the day of remembrance for the dead. She did not want to confront the audience with the closedness of a work, but she tried to create the concert as a place where everyone reflects on the voice of the dead and yet experiences together this privacy of the inner ears. The piece was premiered on November 1, 2022 in the chapel „Madonna in den Trümmern“ (Cologne) with the string quartet of Ensemble Mosaik. In contrast, openness to the future characterizes the composition for bass clarinet, cello and tape that was written afterwards. The surplus, which actually does not belong to the work, but is necessarily experienced in a realization of the musical text, she wanted to integrate here as a component to the work. Moreover, it was to be preserved at each performance as a history of the work for future performances. The premiere is planned for early 2023 in Oldenburg with the oh ton-ensemble, which commissioned her to write the work.