"Laura Totenhagen takes the sharpest scalpel of vocal technique and slices her voice into its finest threads, laying each fragment bare."
Konrad Bott, SWR, the German public broadcaster

"Laura Totenhagen expands vocals into the realm of sound design. Layering effects with breaths, screams, and half-sung, half-chanted delivery, she uses her raw voice to craft a kaleidoscope of sonic transformations."
Edging, China, independent reviewer

The German vocalist, boundary-pushing improviser, and performer Laura Totenhagen (*1992) approaches her work with a questioning, playful, and subtly confrontational attitude. Emerging from the rigor of an academic background in oboe, piano, and eventually a Master of Music in voice at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, the artist thrives in technical maximalism, playfulness as research, and holistic performance.

Totenhagen has developed a distinctive vocal approach, intricately shaping her voice through a fusion of sonic textures, human interactions, and feminist discourse. Her practice seamlessly integrates movement and visual storytelling with technical sophistication and a nuanced sense of humor.

Not bound to any single genre, her vocal practice thrives in the creative tension between boundaries—delighting in the freedom of sitting between chairs: 
Her most recent production, RAW, is her most ambitious project to date, featuring five duo collaborations with artists from the US and Germany. The series includes duos with DoYeon Kim (gayageum), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Nick Dunston (double bass), Anton Kaun (noise art), and Lucy Liebe (guitar and effects).

With a relentless pursuit of technical mastery, she also crafts acoustic songs where precision and authenticity in lyric delivery take center stage. Movement through space and active engagement with the audience serve as powerful sources of inspiration and connection.

In her solo improvisations, she explores the pure voice unadorned—eschewing digital effects to focus solely on acoustic extended techniques, revealing the voice’s raw, expressive potential.

Her collaborative spirit shines through projects with trumpet virtuoso Pablo Gīw and bassist Farida Amadou or noise-artist Rumpeln, and live calligrapher Qian Geng—where she manipulates a vast arsenal of effect pedals in real-time, shaping soundscapes without pre-recordings. Additionally, her work in an acoustic trio with cellist Elisabeth Coudoux and drummer Leif Berger expands the boundaries of vocal integration within chamber settings.

Beyond collaboration, she finds joy in crafting solo soundscapes using effect pedals, continuously pushing the limits of vocal expression and sonic exploration.

Laura Totenhagen is an alumnus of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and NICA artist development and received funding by Kunststiftung NRW and MKW NRW etc. A masters graduate of the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, she has collaborated extensively with a wide range of musicians and improvisers from Germany and beyond, maintaining close, ongoing creative partnerships with Australian poet and lyricist Ursula Martyn-Ellis, as well as designer Johanna Braun, who designs her stage costumes. Through these connections and her personal artistic process, Totenhagen’s work is an expression of her experience that seeks to evolve, expand, and question. 

Selection of previous venues, festivals, or series:

Bandai Namco Shanghai Base, China
Tampere Hall, Tampere, Finland
Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin, Germany
Berlin Philharmonie, Germany
Cologne Philharmonie, Germany
Musikverein Vienna, Austria
Telekom Forum Bonn, Germany
LVR Landesmuseum Bonn, Germany
Radialsystem Berlin, Germany
Villa Waldberta Feldafing, Germany
Zoglau 3, Austria
Stadtgarten Cologne, Germany
Altes Pfandhaus Cologne, Germany
Loft Cologne, Germany
Ehemaliges Stummfilmkino Delphi Berlin, Germany


A L'ARME! FESTIVAL Berlin, Germany
A Bunch Of Noise, Shanghai, China
London Jazz Festival, Germany
Voc Cologne at Philharmonie Cologne, Germany 
London Fashion Week (Paula Knorr show), United Kingdom
Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt, Germany
Winterjazz Cologne, Germany
KLAENG Festival Cologne, Germany
Night of Surprise Cologne , Germany
Jazzfest Bonn, Germany
Leipziger Jazztage, Germany