In 1988, Götz Friedrich invited her to perform at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and she has been closely identified with that company ever since.
During the period 1988–1993, she sang at the Bayreuth Festival: Elsa in Lohengrin and Freia in Das Rheingold, returning in 2004 to sing Sieglinde in Die Walküre.
She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1998 as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Other engagements have been in Israel, Spain, France, Austria, England, and Japan, working with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, Daniel Barenboim, Christian Thielemann, Valery Gergiyev, Simon Rattle and Christoph von Dohnanyi.
As a dramatic soprano, Johansson has concentrated on the operas of Wagner and Strauss, notably Senta in The Flying Dutchman, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, Brünhilde in both Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung, the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten and the title roles of Elektra, Salome and Ariadne auf Naxos.