Deutekom was born
Stientje Engel in Amsterdam. She studied at the
Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Coby Riemersma and Felix Hupka. In 1963, she made her debut with
De Nederlandse Opera as Queen of the Night in Mozart's
The Magic Flute. In 1974, she opened the Met season as Elena in
I vespri siciliani alongside Plácido Domingo. Besides the Queen of the Night, her Mozart roles included Donna Anna in
Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in
Così fan tutte and Vitellia in
La clemenza di Tito. She sang the great
bel canto roles, specifically in
Rossini's
Armida, in
Bellini's
Norma and
I puritani, and in
Donizetti's
Lucia di Lammermoor. She went on to the great dramatic
Verdi roles including Abigaile in
Nabucco, Lady
Macbeth, Leonora in
Il trovatore, Amelia in
Un ballo in maschera, and Elena in
I vespri siciliani. Other roles which were captured in commercial recordings include Giselda in
I Lombardi and Odabella in
Attila. Finally, she sang the title roles in
Cherubini's
Médée and
Puccini's
Turandot. Deutekom decided to end her stage career on the last day of 1986, after having heart problems during a performance of the opera
Amaya in
Bilbao. She turned to giving
master classes internationally. She made a return in November 1996 at the Concertgebouw , at the age of 65 singing the Bolero from
I vespri siciliani and Anna Elisa's aria "Liebe, du Himmel auf Erden" from the operetta
Paganini, reportedly "bringing the house down". As of 2001, she was a guest teacher at the
Royal Conservatory of The Hague, but following a stroke in 2004, she retired from public life. On 26 October 2011, a tribute gala concert for her, initiated by baritone Ernst Daniël Smid was staged at the
Royal Theater Carré. This was the soprano's last public appearance. ==Vocal technique==