She studied in Stockholm and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where her teachers included Vera Rózsa.

From 1983 to 1985, she was an ensemble member of the Basel Opera, where she made her professional operatic début as Alcina in Haydn's Orlando paladino.

Other work in contemporary music has included singing the role of The Woman in Senza Sangue of Péter Eötvös.

She has stated that the material has special personal meaning for her as her father had attempted unsuccessfully during the war to spread information that he had received from SS officer Kurt Gerstein about the Nazi death camps.

[10] In 2016, von Otter sang Leonora in the world premiere of Thomas Adès' The Exterminating Angel, and again in 2017 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.