Cebotari had an extremely versatile voice, and her repertoire covered coloratura, soubrette, lyric and dramatic roles; for example, she sang both Countess Almaviva and Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro", Violetta in "La traviata" and Salome in the same season. She concentrated on four composers – Mozart, Richard Strauss, Verdi, Puccini. Richard Strauss described her as "the best all-rounder on the European stage, and she is never late and she never cancels". Herbert von Karajan, during a BBC interview decades after her death, said she was the greatest "Madame Butterfly" he had ever conducted.