Jerry Hadley
Encyclopedia
Jerry Hadley was an American opera
tic 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 a protegé
of soprano Dame Joan Sutherland
and her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge
. A versatile singer, Hadley was equally at home in opera, operetta, and on Broadway
.
, 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, earning his masters 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 Elixir of Love
, Alfred in Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus
, and Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress
by Stravinsky.
, who had heard him in the National Opera Institute auditions in 1978 and offered him a New York City Opera
contract on the spot. He also commenced vocal training in New York with vocal teacher Thomas Lo Monaco. 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
, Die Zauberflöte, 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, Jerry 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. He created the tenor lead role in Sir Paul McCartney
's Liverpool Oratorio
. He also sang the lead role in Weill
's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
.
Hadley made many recordings Richard Bonynge
in the bel canto
genre, and Leonard Bernstein
selected him to sing the title role in a complete recording of his operetta
Candide
(which Bernstein himself conducted). It was one of the conductor's very last projects. The performance was also filmed for television.
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.
with Opera Queensland
. Following those performances, critics hailed Hadley's voice and singing for having a new-found sense of youth and clarity, coupled with a perfect technique and sure dramatic sense.
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."
. His girlfriend heard the shot and called 911. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York
, had CAT scans as well as X-rays that showed severe brain injury, and was put on life support.
On July 16, 2007, Hadley was taken off life support. He died two days later on July 18.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
(2004 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
The Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording has been awarded since 1961. The award was originally titled Best Classical Opera Production. The current title has been used since 1962....
), Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
(1995 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
The Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording has been awarded since 1961. The award was originally titled Best Classical Opera Production. The current title has been used since 1962....
), and Candide
Candide
Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best ; Candide: or, The Optimist ; and Candide: or, Optimism...
(1992 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album
Grammy Award for Best Classical Album
The Grammy Award for Best Classical Album was awarded from 1962 to 2011. The award had several minor name changes:*From 1962 to 1963, 1965 to 1972 and 1974 to 1976 the award was known as Album of the Year - Classical...
). Hadley was a leading American tenor for nearly two decades. He was a protegé
Mentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
of soprano Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
and her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
. A versatile singer, Hadley was equally at home in opera, operetta, and on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
Early life and training
Hadley was born and raised in Manlius, IllinoisManlius, Illinois
Manlius is a village in Bureau County, Illinois, United States. The population was 355 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ottawa–Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Manlius is located at ....
, of Italian and English parents. He attended Bradley University
Bradley University
Bradley University, founded in 1897, is a private, co-educational university located in Peoria, Illinois. It is a small institution with an enrollment of approximately 6,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students and a full-time faculty of approximately 350....
in Peoria, Illinois
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
, 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, earning his masters 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
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Nemorino in Donizetti's Elixir of Love
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, Alfred in Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
, and Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
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 SillsBeverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
, who had heard him in the National Opera Institute auditions in 1978 and offered him a New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
contract on the spot. He also commenced vocal training in New York with vocal teacher Thomas Lo Monaco. Hadley became a regular member of the roster of the New York City Opera after his debut there as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
in 1979.
In 1982 he made his first appearance at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
as Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. He frequently performed at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
at Covent Garden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is also home to the Berlin State Ballet.-History:...
, the Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg State Opera
The Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...
, the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
, the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, the San Diego Opera
San Diego Opera
The San Diego Opera Association is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California and is a member of OPERA America. It was founded in 1950 to present productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area...
and the Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence Festival
The festival international d'art lyrique is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in the month of July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental music.-Establishment:The...
and Salzburg
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
festivals.
Hadley was known for his interpretations of lyric tenor opera roles as well as his performances of Broadway musicals, operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
, and popular music. One of his best-selling recordings was the EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
three-CD recording of the complete score of Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
, conducted by John McGlinn
John McGlinn
John Alexander McGlinn III was an American conductor and musical theatre archivist. He was one of the principal proponents of authentic studio cast recordings of Broadway musicals, using original orchestrations and vocal arrangements.-Biography:John Alexander McGlinn III was born in Bryn Mawr,...
. Hadley sang the role of Gaylord Ravenal
Gaylord Ravenal
Gaylord Ravenal is the leading male character in both Edna Ferber's novel Show Boat and in the famous Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical play of the same name, based on the novel. He is a compulsive riverboat gambler, and he becomes leading man of the show boat Cotton Blossom at the same time...
.
Hadley sang the tenor roles of the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
repertory (Il Barbiere di Siviglia
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
, L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli's Anna Bolena, both telling of the life of Anne Boleyn...
, La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
) as well as Mozart (Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Die Zauberflöte, La clemenza di Tito
La clemenza di Tito
La clemenza di Tito , K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Metastasio...
) and the French Romantics (Les contes d'Hoffmann, Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
, Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
). He also sang the tenor soloist in Handel's Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
and Verdi's Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
. 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
The Long Goodbye (Procol Harum album)
The Long Goodbye was released in 1995. Strictly speaking, this is not a Procol Harum album; it was produced by Gary Brooker with various guest musicians many of whom are or were members of Procol Harum...
, an album of reinterpretations of the music of Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
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
Grand Hotel (album)
Grand Hotel is an album by Procol Harum, released in 1973.-Track listing:#"Grand Hotel" - 6:10#"Toujours l'amour" - 3:31#"A Rum Tale" - 3:20#"TV Caesar" - 5:52#"A Souvenir of London" - 3:23#"Bringing Home the Bacon" - 4:21...
".
In 1996, Jerry Hadley commissioned the composer Daniel Steven Crafts
Daniel Steven Crafts
Daniel Steven Crafts is an American composer.-Composition Style:Daniel Steven Crafts has chosen to oppose what he considers unjustifiably dissonant formalism prevalent in late 20th century classical music...
to create music for selected poems by Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
. The work, The Song and The Slogan
The Song and The Slogan
The Song & the Slogan was composed by Daniel Steven Crafts in 1996, on commission from the late opera tenor Jerry Hadley. It sets to music sections of Carl Sandburg’s 1918 prose poem “Prairie” with excerpts from other Sandburg poems chosen by Mr. Hadley. The piece premiered in 2000 and was later...
, premiered in 2000 at the University of Illinois, and was made into a PBS video, which won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Best Musical Performance by the Mid-America Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....
. 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
John Harbison
John Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
's 1999 The Great Gatsby, based on the novel of the same name. He created the tenor lead role in Sir Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
's Liverpool Oratorio
Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio
Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio is Paul McCartney's first official foray into classical music and was released in 1991. Composed in collaboration with Carl Davis to commemorate The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's 150th anniversary, the project received a large amount of media...
. He also sang the lead role in Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed in Leipzig on 9 March 1930.-Composition history:...
.
Hadley made many recordings Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
in the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
genre, and Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
selected him to sing the title role in a complete recording of his operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
Candide
Candide (operetta)
Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
(which Bernstein himself conducted). It was one of the conductor's very last projects. The performance was also filmed for television.
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
Alexander Frey
Alexander Frey is an American symphony orchestra conductor. He is also known as a virtuoso organist and pianist. Frey is in great demand as one of the world's most versatile conductors, and has enjoyed great success in the concert hall and opera house, and in the music of Broadway and Hollywood.In...
, 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 ButterflyMadama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
with Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981, then under the name Lyric Opera of Queensland, after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in December 1980.It is after Opera Australia the second...
. Following those performances, critics hailed Hadley's voice and singing for having a new-found sense of youth and clarity, coupled with a perfect technique and sure dramatic sense.
In an interview with The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
, 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 suffered brain damage after apparently shooting himself in the head with an air rifle at his home in Clinton Corners, New YorkClinton, Dutchess County, New York
Clinton is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 4,010 at the 2000 census. The town is named after George Clinton, an early governor of New York....
. His girlfriend heard the shot and called 911. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York
Poughkeepsie (town), New York
Poughkeepsie is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 42,777 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from the native term, "Uppu-qui-ipis-in," which means "reed-covered hut by the water."...
, had CAT scans as well as X-rays that showed severe brain injury, and was put on life support.
On July 16, 2007, Hadley was taken off life support. He died two days later on July 18.
External links
- Feature on The Song and the Slogan, Hadley's Emmy Award winning documentary.
- A remembrance by National Public Radio featuring musical highlights from Hadley's career.