 She studied from 1984 until 1991 at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, where her teachers were Ingrid Figur, Aribert Reimann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.She also took master classes with Arleen Augér and Sena Jurinac.After finishing her studies in 1992, Schäfer began singing at the opera house in Innsbruck.