After leaving school, the bass Stephan Klemm embarked upon a degree in German language and literature as well as fine arts at the Martin Luther University in Halle. A year later, after taking his first singing lessons at the age of 23, he moved to the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy School of Music in Leipzig to study singing with Helga Forner.

While still a student he made his debut at the Hans Otto Theatre in Potsdam, performing Bartolo (The Marriage of Figaro), Sarastro (The Magic Flute), the King of Egypt (Aida), Angelotti (Tosca) and Fafner (The Rhinegold), among other roles. He freelanced between 1997 and 2002 appearing at venues including the Rostock Theatre, German–Sorbian National Theatre in Bautzen, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Lausitz Summer Opera Festival and the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiel.

In September 2002 he took up a permanent engagement at the Landestheater in Coburg. Here he portrayed a wide variety of characters such as Sir John Falstaff (Merry Wives), the Landgrave (Tannhäuser), Caspar (Der Freischütz), Rocco (Fidelio), Raymond (Lucia di Lammermoor), Osmin (The Abduction from the Seraglio), van Bett (Zar und Zimmermann), Daland (The Flying Dutchman) and Leporello (Don Giovanni).

In September 2005 he was engaged to sing at the State Theatre in Nuremberg where his performances included Colline (La Bohème), the Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos), Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville), the Hermit (Der Freischütz) and Gremin (Eugene Onegin). During this time he also appeared in Weimar, Erfurt, Freiburg, Augsburg and other opera houses throughout Germany singing a wide variety of roles to great acclaim.

In September 2008 he returned to freelancing and since then has appeared in the Weimar Ring cycle as Hunding, Siegfried and Fafner; he also sang Baculus in Der Wildschütz, Sarastro and Daland at the National Theatre in Mannheim and portrayed Sarastro and the Landgrave in the Mainfranken Theatre in Würzburg. In December 2009 he scored a very successful debut as Heinrich in Lohengrin at the Dortmund Theatre and Daland (The Flying Dutchman) at the Cagliari Opera House.

Future engagements include King Marke in a Tristan und Isolde production, and King in The Love for Three Oranges in Munich. Stephan Klemm has also performed an extensive range of concert, recital and oratorio engagements both in Germany and abroad, including Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, cantatas and passions, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and the Requiems of Mozart and Verdi.