Since her 1989 operatic debut as Cherubino in
Cortona, Italy, Stemme has appeared with many opera companies, including the
Royal Swedish Opera Stockholm, the
Vienna State Opera,
La Scala Milano,
Semperoper Dresden,
Grand Théâtre de Genève, the
Zurich Opera,
Teatro di San Carlo Naples,
Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona,
Opéra Bastille Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich,
Covent Garden London,
Teatro Real Madrid,
Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, the
Metropolitan Opera New York,
San Francisco Opera, as well as at the
Bayreuth,
Salzburg,
Savonlinna,
Glyndebourne and
Bregenz festivals. include Rosalinde, Mimì in
La bohème, Cio-Cio San in
Madama Butterfly,
Turandot,
Tosca,
Manon Lescaut,
Suor Angelica, Euridice, Katerina in
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, the Countess in
Le nozze di Figaro, Marguerite, Agathe, Marie, Nyssia (König Kandaules), Jenůfa, Marschallin, Eva, Elisabeth, Elsa, Senta, Sieglinde, Elisabeth in
Tannhäuser and Isolde. This last brought her critical acclaim at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2003, on disc for EMI Classics with Plácido Domingo,
Antonio Pappano and the chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden released in 2005 and most recently at the Bayreuth Festival in 2005 and again in 2006. In 2007 Stemme returned in the role of Isolde to Glyndebourne Festival Opera where she made her debut in the role. In 2006, Stemme sang Maria in the premiere of
Sven-David Sandström's
Ordet – en passion, on 24 March in Stockholm. She also made her role debut in the title role of
Aida in a new production at Zürich Opera and recorded her first album of
Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs and final scenes. On the concert platform in 2006–07, she appeared in recital with Antonio Pappano (piano) in Barcelona and Dresden and in recital at the Zürich Opera. In 2008, Stemme replaced
Deborah Voigt in what would have been Voigt's role debut as Brünnhilde in the opera
Siegfried, part of a new
Vienna State Opera Ring cycle conducted by
Franz Welser-Möst. Stemme also sang Brünnhilde in the 2010 season opening at
La Scala and in San Francisco Opera's 2011
Ring cycle. In 2015 Stemme performed at
GöteborgsOperan in
Gothenburg, Sweden, in a new opera by composer
Hans Gefors with libretto by
Kerstin Perski and directed by
Keith Warner. The opera is based on
Alfred Hitchcock's spy thriller
Notorious from 1946. Other members of the cast included
Katarina Karnéus,
John Lundgren and
Michael Weinius. In September and October 2016, Stemme returned to the role of Isolde in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of "Tristan und Isolde". In 2017, Stemme was the soprano soloist at the
Last Night of the Proms. Stemme performs on average 40 times per year in various venues around the world. ==Personal life==