La Nonne / La Nonne Sanglante “Mae Heydorn was the star turn as the nun”
Erda / Das Rheingold Longborough Festival Opera “a gorgeously sung Erda from Mae Heydorn”
“But almost the most beautiful singing of the whole evening, and the most magical touch, comes from the Erda, Mae Heydorn.”
Hackney Empire / Grimeborn Siegfried & Götterdämmerung
For Erda, awoken from her long deep sleep, Wagner directs that she “appears to be covered with hoar frost, her hair and garments throw off a glimmering brightness”. As the vocally superb Mae Heydorn writhed slowly inside a gauze envelope, that is exactly what we saw.
Erda / Siegfried /Longborough Festival Opera Three singers in smaller roles were mightily impressive: Mark Stone’s power-hungry and vengeful Alberich, Simon Wilding’s unusually poignant Fafner and Mae Heydorn’s bewildered Erda which she sang with focussed intensity and contralto richness.
Mark Stone’s wild mop-haired Alberich, guarding the treasure, and Mae Heydorn as Erda, the earth goddess and mother of Brünnhilde, are both impressive.
A richly sonorous Mae Heydorn as the earth Goddess Erda is marvellously matriarchal.
His Act III meeting with Erda (a splendid Mae Heydorn) is suitably terrifying as he stands on a rock with his staff, and she appears behind him within the frame clutching her own.