 In 1954, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera.In 1956, he debuted at Covent Garden, as Count Almaviva in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", and at the Salzburg Festival, as Arbace in Mozart's "Idomeneo"; in 1958, at Bayreuth, as Amfortas in Wagner's "Parsifal"; in 1959, at the Paris Opera, as Wolfram in Wagner's "Tannhäuser"; in 1960, at both La Scala and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, as Count Almaviva; and, in January 1961, at the Metropolitan Opera, as Wolfram.Awarded in 1963 the title "Kammersänger", Waechter created in 1980 the role of Joseph in Gottfried von Einem's "Jesu Hochzeit", opposite Karan Armstrong.