TV-documentary, 53 min german, english or french subtitles, 2003
Starring: Kurt Rydl, Zubin Mehta, Plácido Domingo, Christiane Rydl, Werner Boote and many others.
NOMINATED EMMY AWARD 2003, Austrian TV award IMZ
NOMINATED "Europaen TV Award FIPA" category art documentary
Presented at the filmfestival IDFA Amsterdam
Watch the Trailer
They call him “Pavarotti of the deep notes” and he is, in fact, one of the most sought after basses in the operatic world: the Viennese singer Kurt Rydl. For a whole year, director Werner Boote followed the witty, energetic singer on his travels throughout Europe.

The film portrays Rydl not only as a private person but also as a kind of popstar of the modern opera world, jetting from stage to stage with hardly a day of rest in between. He just loves his role as one of the great gladiators - on stage and in real life.

Parsifal: Kurt Rydl and Plácido Domingo, colleagues and friends
Kurt Rydl not only sings the roles of the gladiators in the operatic works but in real life he simply acts like one. Kurt Rydl is The Gladiator of the Operas.
A titan in the Circus Maximus of the opera. With more than 100 parts in six languages and more than 3000 performances (!) in 35 years on stage.
Boote shows a side of opera singer Kurt Rydl which is rarely seen. Obsessed with his career, he wishes he could simply beam from one opera house to the next. This intimate portrait also shows the great loneliness and solitude burdening this driven man.

Kurt Rydl always knows the cheapest and fastest way to the operahouse
Director Werner Boote accompanied Kurt Rydl for 8 months and created an Emmy-nominated masterwork out of 300 hours of material.
Watch another Trailer

Kurt sings "König Heinrich" in "Lohengrin"
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Kurt Rydl - The Gladiator
An Austrian TV documentary on the Wagnerian singer Kurt Rydl, renowned not only for his magnificent bass voice but also the almost unbelievable number of engagements he has so far taken all over the world and sung to a most admirable standard.

After the rehearsals in Florence, Italy, he needs to hurry up for the evening show.

Kurt misses the train and calls the operahouse to wait. The overture starts as soon as he enters the building.

Kurt Rydl as Hagen in Richard Wagners "Götterdämmerung"
CREDITS:
Writer-Director: Werner Boote
Cinematography: Thomas Kirschner, Hans Selikovsky, Oliver Schneider, Werner Boote
Sound: Dieter Draxler, Bernhard Schmid, Franz Moritz
Editor: Tom Pohanka
Producer: Dieter Pochlatko
Coproduction: epo film, Vienna/ORF/BM:BWK 2003
digibeta, 16:9
Period of shooting (Start/End): November 21st 2001 - Oktober 21st 2002
completed: November 13th 2002