Jerry Hadley

Jerry Hadley (June 16, 1952 – July 18, 2007) was an American operatic tenor. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of Jenůfa (2004 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), Susannah (1995 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), and Candide (1992 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album). Hadley was a leading American tenor for nearly two decades. He was mentored by soprano Joan Sutherland and her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge. Leonard Bernstein chose Hadley for his 1989 recording of Candide on Deutsche Grammophon. A versatile singer, Hadley was equally at home in opera and operetta and on Broadway.

Early life and training 
Hadley was born and raised in Manlius, Illinois, of Italian and English parents. He attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he was a member of the Delta Nu chapter of Phi Mu Alpha, a men's music fraternity. Hadley first studied to become a conductor, but after four years turned to singing. He studied voice under Dr. John Davis while at Bradley, ultimately earning his master's degree in voice at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. At Illinois he studied voice with Grace Wilson and James Bailey, and coached with pianists John Wustman and Eric Dalheim. He starred in many School of Music opera productions, including Tamino in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Alfred in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, and Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress by Stravinsky.

Career 
Hadley's early years as a professional singer were spent in regional opera houses in the U.S. He was then snapped up by Beverly Sills, who had heard him in the National Opera Institute auditions in 1978 and offered him a New York City Opera contract on the spot. Hadley became a regular member of the roster of the New York City Opera after his debut there as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor in 1979.

In 1982 he made his first appearance at the Vienna State Opera as Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. He frequently performed at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the San Diego Opera and the Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg festivals.

Hadley was known for his interpretations of lyric tenor opera roles as well as his performances of Broadway musicals, operetta, and popular music. One of his best-selling recordings was the EMI three-CD recording of the complete score of Show Boat, conducted by John McGlinn. Hadley sang the role of Gaylord Ravenal.

Hadley sang the tenor roles of the bel canto repertory (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L'elisir d'amore, Anna Bolena, La bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor) as well as Mozart (Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, La clemenza di Tito) and the French Romantics (Les contes d'Hoffmann, Faust, Werther, Manon). He also sang the tenor soloist in Handel's Messiah and Verdi's Requiem. He sang the role of Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress for much of his career, first performing it while a graduate student at the University of Illinois.

In the early 1990s, Hadley appeared on The Long Goodbye, an album of reinterpretations of the music of Procol Harum featuring past and present members of the band, augmented by orchestra and guest vocalists; Hadley's contribution was a stirring vocal interpretation of the classic, "Grand Hotel".

In 1996, Hadley commissioned the composer Daniel Steven Crafts to create music for selected poems by Carl Sandburg. The work, The Song and The Slogan, premiered in 2000 at the University of Illinois, and was made into a PBS video, which won an Emmy Award for Best Musical Performance by the Mid-America Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Among the performers in the premiere were university professors and musicians with whom he had worked while a student, including pianist Eric Dalheim, conductor Paul Vermel, and cellist Barbara Hedlund.

Hadley created the role of Don Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, in Myron Fink's 1997 opera, The Conquistador, and the title role in John Harbison's 1999 The Great Gatsby, based on the novel of the same name. Outside opera, he created in 1991 the tenor part in Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio.

At the 1998 Salzburg Festival, Hadley sang the lead tenor role in Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, a staging that was filmed and commercially released. But Hadley made many recordings. He recorded under Richard Bonynge's baton in the bel canto genre, and Leonard Bernstein selected him to sing the title role in a complete 1989 recording of his operetta Candide, led by the composer a year before he died; London concerts of the operetta given that year with the same principal singers, including Hadley, were separately televised and commercially released.

As a recitalist, Hadley gave concerts in Europe and the United States, and his performances regularly featured American music. He performed frequently with the American conductor-pianist Alexander Frey, and at the time of Hadley's death they were planning to record two new solo compact discs of song repertoire of Austria and Hollywood. Hadley also performed frequently with pianist Eric Dalheim.

Divorce and withdrawal from the stage 
Following his divorce from pianist Cheryll Drake Hadley in 2002, Hadley in large part abandoned singing and the stage for five years. A few months before his death, he had begun a major comeback, with the public and critics noting a renewed freshness, control and vibrancy to his voice. His last operatic performances were in May 2007 in Brisbane, Australia, as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opera Queensland.

In an interview with The Courier-Mail, Hadley commented on his return to the stage after his long absence since his divorce: "A wounded bird cannot sing. It was tough. It was emotionally distressing and it goes straight to the throat. So I took some time off and sat in the quiet for a while. I never really understood how inseparable was the journey of the spirit and the journey of singing and making music. For the first time in my life I couldn't see a way forward. But I came out on the other side of it with a deeper appreciation of what a great gift and great opportunities God has given me."

Death 
On July 10, 2007, Hadley sustained a catastrophic brain injury after apparently shooting himself in the head with an air rifle at his home in Clinton Corners, New York. Hearing the shot, his fiancée  called 911. Hadley was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York where CAT scans and X-rays showed severe brain injury; he was put on life support. On July 16, he was taken off life support. Hadley died two days later.

Discography
 Jerome Kern: Show Boat, conducted by John McGlinn, EMI, 1988
 A Salute to American Music (Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala XVI, 1991)
 Faust (Charles Gounod), Welsh National Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conductor: Carlo Rizzi (Teldec 1994)

Videography
 James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala (1996), Deutsche Grammophon DVD, B0004602-09

References 

Further references
 Kimmelman, Michael, "A Singer Finds His Creative Range", The New York Times, August 14, 1987. Retrieved via subscription July 21, 2007.
 Kosman, Joshua, "Tenor's persona electrified stage", San Francisco Chronicle, July 19, 2007. Retrieved, July 21, 2007.
 Kozinn, Allan, "Jerry Hadley – A Thoughtful Tenor", The New York Times, July 20, 1986. Retrieved via subscription July 21, 2007.
 Lueck, Thomas, "Opera Singer's D.W.I. Case Dropped", The New York Times, February 23, 2007. Retrieved via subscription July 21, 2007.
 Merli, Melissa, "Performer dies after 2 days off life support", Illinois News-Gazette, July 19, 2007. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
 Panetta, Gary, "Celebrated tenor and central Illinois native taken off life support", Peoria Star Journal, July 16, 2007. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
 Pasles, Chris, "Jerry Hadley, 55; one of the most versatile and important U.S. opera singers", Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2007. Retrieved July 21, 2007.

External links 

 A remembrance by National Public Radio featuring musical highlights from Hadley's career.
Two interviews with Jerry Hadley by Bruce Duffie, January 1, 1987, and October 13, 1994
"Jerry Hadley: A Sweetness in Every Woe" by Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, inSight, March 2014

Category:1952 births
Category:2007 deaths
Category:American operatic tenors
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:Bradley University alumni
Category:People from Bureau County, Illinois
Category:University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign alumni
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Suicides by firearm in New York (state)
Category:Classical musicians who committed suicide
Category:20th-century American opera singers
Category:Singers who committed suicide
Category:Male suicides
Category:20th-century male singers