Elise Caluwaerts' love for challenging repertoire – ranging from opera to multidisciplinary projects – led to various creations and remarkable collaborations with internationally renowned composers and ensembles. During the Sydney Festival, she sang the highly acclaimed role of Lei in Pascal Dusapin’s chamber opera Passion: "Belgian soprano Elise Caluwaerts impressed with her supple sense of line and strength, displaying a soaring, pure-toned top register and richly coloured lower register." (The Australian).

Furthermore, Elise released an album with spectacular coloratura repertoire with the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. It lead to various major international opera productions, such as Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra directed by David Stern and Rossini’s Il Barbieri di Siviglia (Rosina) under the baton of Vegard Nilsen. A highlight was the female leading role (Chuan Yun) in the creation of Enjott Schneider's opera Marco Polo directed by Kasper Holten in Guanghzou Opera (China). Elise Caluwaerts sang Mimi in La Bohème for the Copenhagen Opera Festival.

The numerous multidisciplinary projects Elise Caluwaerts has worked on prove that she seeks to explore boundaries. There was the successful literary-musical production Avondrood around Richard Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder, a collaboration with Behoud de Begeerte and acclaimed author Lize Spit.At the request of House of Flanders, Elise curated an artistic production in which art, fashion and technology came together to connect past and present. Therefore, she collaborated with VR producer Wim Forceville and fashion tech designer Jasna Rok at the world-famous Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco.