after graduating, norman, like many young musicians at the time, moved to europe to establish herself. in 1968 she won the ard international music competition in munich after she fought a judge's ruling that had arbitrarily changed the rules of the competition during the second round in what was likely a racially motivated decision. the following year, she began a three-year contract with the deutsche oper berlin, making her operatic début with the company as elisabeth in wagner's "tannhäuser". critics at the time described norman as having "the greatest voice since the german soprano lotte lehmann."