Emily Otto & Band

Artist in Residence at the Young Stage Academy
Winner of “Future Sounds” 2024

“How can I do it differently?” – This is the question singer-songwriter Emily Otto asks herself every time she writes music. Conventional approaches simply aren’t an option for her. It has to be special. And free. Freedom is the foundation of her songwriting, which has recently brought her national recognition – as Artist in Residence in the City of Leverkusen’s pop culture support programme and the face of the city’s new pop music initiative.

In 2024, Emily Otto, performing as a duet with her brother Dylan, won the international “Future Sounds” young talent award at the Leverkusen Jazz Days – another milestone on this extraordinary artist’s journey.

And at the 2025 Leverkusen Jazz Days, she then celebrated two acclaimed performances – one at the Forum, one at the Bayer-Kultur recreation centre – with an 11-piece band including a backing choir and a brass section. So, in addition to Otto’s characteristic intensity, there was an extra dose of musical power.

The big night at the Forum in front of almost 2,000 spectators was recorded by WDR and is currently available to watch in the Arte media library. It is a concert that promises to be even more direct and intimate in the club atmosphere of the Scala Leverkusen – closer to the audience than at the big shows last year.

Emily Otto writes songs that confidently span the spectrum from jazz through funk and soul to pop. And because she also draws on numerous musical influences, her sound is a true genre collage: neo-soul, funk-pop, indie-folk – it could hardly be more multifaceted. This music embraces everything. At the heart of her powerful live performances, as she herself says, is “the oldest instrument in the world: the voice”. Emily’s credo: “I want to let everything happen.” And yet remain accessible, because: “The best melody is always the one you sing together.”

In Opladen, she will bring all of this to the stage of the Scala once again. Once more, the 11-piece band will be there to back her up fully. And perhaps the audience will even get to hear a few new tracks, because: Emily Otto is currently working on her new album, due for release in the autumn, which ‘just happened’ rather spontaneously during a short break in the north at the turn of the year: ‘I’d planned to write just a few songs – and accidentally wrote a whole album.’