Kurt Rydl is one of the greatest bass singers of our time. Born in Vienna, he studied in Vienna and Moscow. He won 1st prize at competitions in Barcelona and Paris.
His opera repertoire comprises more than 120 roles in German, Italian, French, English, Russian and Czech works. For more than 35 years, he sings about the 90-100 performances per season. Guest performances lead him to all the major opera houses in the world.
He has performed at the biggest festivals: Salzburg (over 200 performances), Bayreuth, Bregenz, Edinburgh, Munich, Verona
Greatest successes came, inter alia, in the leading opera houses of the world such as the Vienna State Opera House, the Scala of Milan, Royal Opera House of London, Metropolitan of New York, Tel Aviv, Rome, Florence (Maggio Musicale), Bologna, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Salzburg, Paris, Los Angeles, Washington, etc. He has worked with the biggest conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christophe von Dohnányi, Peter Schneider, Christian Thielemann, Bernard Haitink and Hartmut Haenchen.
His awards:
1976 permanent member of the Vienna State Opera
1986 awarded the title of Kammersänger
1999 made honorary member of the Vienna State Opera
2001 awarded the Austrian Cross Medal of Honour, 1st class for Science and Art
2007 Gold Decoration for Services to the City of Vienna
His most important roles:
- Osmin (Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail)
- Rocco (Beethoven: Fidelio)
- Baron Ochs (R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier)
- Sir Morosus (R. Strauss: Die schweigsame Frau)
- Mephisto (Gounaud: Faust)
- King Philip (Verdi: Don Carlos)
- Gurnemanz (Wagner: Parsifal)
- Hagen (Wagner: Götterdämmerung)
- Claggart (Britten: Billy Budd)
- King Henry (Wagner: Lohengrin)
- Daland (Wagner: Fliegender Holländer)
- Landgraf (Wagner: Tannhäuser)
- King Marke (Wagner: Tristan und Isolde)
- Don Pasquale (Donizetti: Don Pasquale)
- Mefistofele (Boito: Mefistofele)
- Attila (Verdi: Attila)
- Basilio (Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia)
- Padre Guardiano (Verdi: La Forza del destino)
- Zaccaria (Verdi: Nabucco)
- Roger (Verdi: Jérusalem)
- Pimen (Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov)
- Boris (Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk)
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Appearances in 2014:
Linz, Budapest: Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier)
Antwerp, Ghent: Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier; directed by Christoph Walz)
Salzburg Festival: Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Blu-ray production)
London: Timur (Turandot)
Vienna: Pimen (Boris Godunov)
La Roche (Capriccio; Blu-ray production with Renée Fleming)