An Anglo-Swedish Society scholar, Mae Heydorn studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Graduating with distinction the Swedish- German contralto made her operatic debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera in The Cunning Little Vixen and subsequently The Rape of Lucretia and The Turn of the Screw.
Mae is the winner of the Swedish Wagner Society’s Award 2019. 2022 saw her critically acclaimed role debut as Erda in Siegfried at Longborough and the Hackney Empire. Mae has since embarked on a new Ring cycle with Regents Opera.
A Making Music Philip and Dorothy Green Award winner Mae performs in recitals across the UK including the English Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall, the KSO at the Southbank Centre, ROS at St John’s Smith Square, the Oxford Lieder Festival and Music at Oxford. At the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival at Harrogate and Buxton Opera House she is especially noted for her characterisations of Phoebe and Mad Margaret. Contemporary repertoire includes the documentary film Opera Mums for BBC4 and Birtwistle’s The Mask of Orpheus at ENO. In 2021 the UK premiere of Gounod’s La nonne sanglante earned her an Offie nomination for the title role and an Offie Award for best opera production.