Hadley, Jerry

Hadley, Jerry, American tenor; b. Princeton, III., June 12, 1952. He studied music education at Bradley Univ. (B.A., 1974) and voice at the Univ. of 111. (M.A., 1977), where he found a mentor in David Lloyd; then studied with Thomas LoMonaco in N.Y. In 1976 he made his professional operatic debut as Ferrando at the Lake George (N.Y.) Opera Festival. On Sept. 14, 1979, he made his first appearance at the N.Y.C. Opera as Lord Arturo Bucklaw in Lucia de Lammermoor, remaining with the company until 1985; also appeared regularly with the Washington (D.C.) Opera (from 1980). He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1982 as Nemorino, and in 1983 he sang for the first time at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Glyndebourne Festival, and the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam. In 1984 he made his debut at London’s Covent Garden as Fenton and his Carnegie Hall recital debut in N.Y; his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. followed on March 7, 1987, as Massenet’s Des Grieux; he sang there regularly from 1990. In 1991 he sang in the premiere of McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio.In 1994 he was engaged as Tom Rakewell in London and at the Lyric Opera in Chicago, a role he reprised at the Metropolitan Opera in 1997. In 1997 he also created the title role in Myron Fink’s The Conquistador in San Diego. He also toured extensively as a concert artist. In addition to his Mozart and bel canto roles, Hadley has found success as Berlioz’s and Gounod’s Faust, Offenbach’s Hoffmann, Verdi’s Alfredo, and Stravinsky’s Tom Rakewell. His performances in works by Weill, Kern, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bernstein, and Lerner and Lowe have added further luster to his success.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire