He made his debut on stage at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1966 as Sid in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring.
From 1969, Schulte was a member of the Theater Bielefeld, where he appeared as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, as Germont in La Traviata and in the leading part Alfred Ill in Gottfried von Einem's Der Besuch der alten Dame, opposite Martha Mödl in the title role.
[1] From 1973 to 1988 Schulte was a member of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, where he sang major baritone parts, from Mozart (Guglielmo in Così fan tutte) to Wagner (Telramund in Lohengrin),[2] Marcel in Puccini's La Bohème,[3] Lindorf, Coppelius, Dapertutto and Mirakel in Hoffmanns Erzählungen, alongside Hermin Esser in the title role, Elizabeth Parcells as Olympia and Gail Gilmore as Niklaus,[4] and the pharao in Rossini's Mosè, with Nadine Secunde.
[6] Schulte appeared as a guest at the Metropolitan Opera, the Teatro La Fenice, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others.
[1] He performed at the Bayreuth Festival, beginning in 1988 as the Heerrufer (The King's Herald) in Lohengrin, from 1992 as Wolfram von Eschenbach in Tannhäuser,[1] and in 1998 he stepped in as Gunther in Götterdämmerung, singing but not acting.