 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.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"), Marcel in Puccini's "La Bohème", Lindorf, Coppelius, Dapertutto and Mirakel in "Hoffmanns Erzählungen", alongside Hermin Esser in the title role, Elizabeth Parcells as Olympia and Gail Gilmore as Niklaus, and the pharao in Rossini's "Mosè", with Nadine Secunde.