[2][3] She made her professional opera debut that year as The Page of Herodias in Richard Strauss's Salome with HGO and her career has largely been based with that company ever since.
With Santa Fe Opera she appeared in productions of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, and the world premiere of Tobias Picker's Emmeline as a member of the chorus during the summer of 1996.
[5] Her role in the latter received particular praise from critic Matthew Gurewitsch of the New York Times stating, "In Stephanie Novacek's portrayal of Jo March, Mr. Adamo's heroine, a star was born."
[6] Novacek's many other roles with HGO include Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Messaggera in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Siebel in Gounod's Faust, Maddalena in Verdi's Rigoletto, Olga in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Suzuki in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and the title role in Bizet's Carmen among others.
[17] In 2006 Novacek appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall with composers Ricky Ian Gordon and Jake Heggie who played their own works on the piano while she sang.