Hadley still in grave condition Ethics panel reviewing case of opera singer on life support

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - A medical ethics panel was reviewing the case of noted tenor Jerry Hadley, who remained in "extremely grave" condition Friday with a gunshot wound, a family spokeswoman said.

The 55-year-old central Illinois native shot himself in the head with an air rifle Tuesday at his home several miles outside Poughkeepsie, according to state police.

Medical staff evaluated him Thursday to determine whether he should remain on life support. Family friend and spokeswoman Celia Novo said Friday that a medical ethics panel at the hospital was reviewing the case and would report to the family. She did not know when that would happen.

Hospital officials would give no further comment on Hadley's condition Saturday.

"We've gotten e-mails from all over the world," said Barbara Hedlund, a former member of Peoria-based Opera Illinois, friend of Hadley's and a cellist who lives in Champaign- Urbana. "I've heard from Japan, Florida, New York, California. He was a global figure in the music world, in the opera world. Tributes from all over the world are coming in."

"Even those of us who really love music of all styles can sometimes find opera to be a little beyond us," said Frank Thompson, a California-based author, filmmaker and longtime friend of Hadley's. "But Jerry had such an accessible style. There was something so communicative about the way he sang.

"Even when he was doing what you would call the most highfalutin music, there was still something very connective about. I sensed it in his recordings well before I knew him. I had heard those songs well over a decade before I met him. But I always had that sense about him. Something I don't feel about Placido Domingo, magnificent though he is. He was always that Illinois voice, he was that Carl Sandburg voice. I think that shows up in his singing."

Hadley, who grew up in Manlius and graduated from Bradley University in 1974, has also continued to have a large impact even as he traveled throughout the world.

"The great thing about Jerry is that he has never forgotten where he came from," said Jeffrey Huberman, dean of the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts at Bradley. "He's always traveling back to Illinois to do a benefit at U of I or at Bradley or his high school (in Manlius, where he grew up). Every time he's come back, he has just reveled in the students. I can tell you from sitting in on those classes his message to the students was always the same: Look at me, look at where I came from and look at the world of possibilities that were available to me by following this great educational path."

"He had worked with several of my students when he came to do a master class," said Shirley Salazar, who serves on Bradley's voice faculty. "Of course, he did a wonderful job then and was very personable, and the kids adored his very open kind of presentation. He had a lot of stories to tell about people that he had worked with."

Hadley's celebrated career included the title roles in composer John Harbison's "The Great Gatsby" and the 1989 production of Leonard Bernstein's musical "Candide," and a featured role in the 2004 Grammy-winning recording of Leos Janacek's opera "Jenufa."

Officials said this week that Hadley had been treated for depression and was filing for bankruptcy.

Journal Star reporter Gary Panetta contributed to this report. He can be reached at 686-3132 or gpanetta@pjstar.com.

This from today's NYT July 12, 2007 Tenor Is Gravely Injured After Shooting Himself, Police Say By DANIEL J. WAKIN Correction Appended Jerry Hadley’s career soared like his tenor voice at the start of the 1980s, quickly taking him to the world’s major opera houses. He was a lyric tenor, singing with an ardent Italianate style imbued with an American clarity and directness. His career flourished. But in recent years, as he moved into his 50s, the bookings waned, and he was overtaken by financial worries and depression, musical colleagues, friends and the police said. Early Tuesday morning, the police said, he put an air rifle to his head and fired, causing severe brain damage. Yesterday Mr. Hadley, 55, was on life support at St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said Robert Rochler, senior investigator of the New York State Police, and he was not expected to survive. Mr. Hadley shot himself in the bedroom of his home in Clinton Corners, near Poughkeepsie, Investigator Rochler said. The woman he lived with heard the shot and called the police, he said. The rifle belonged to Mr. Hadley and did not require a permit, Investigator Rochler said. Despite reports of his difficulties, friends said Mr. Hadley had nevertheless seemed upbeat and excited about a comeback, making his actions on Tuesday more baffling. “His singing, as of late, was in my opinion never better,” said Brian Cheney, a young tenor who counted Mr. Hadley as his mentor. “It was like he sounded 20 years ago. In all respects he was on his way to making a real wonderful comeback.” Mr. Hadley’s last major performances were in May, when he sang the role of Pinkerton in a production of “Madama Butterfly” at Opera Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. “He was thrilled with the way it went,” Mr. Cheney said. In recent months, he had been discussing reviving his career with a move into character roles, like Captain Vere in “Peter Grimes” or Mime in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, said Neil Funkhouser, an artists’ manager. Mr. Funkhouser said Mr. Hadley had approached him about providing representation. “He always seemed to be to me one of the most upbeat, positive people that I knew,” Mr. Funkhouser said. “This comes as a total shock to me.” Yet others who knew the singer said he was troubled by depression and other problems. Mr. Hadley was divorced, with two sons, Mr. Cheney said. Investigator Rochler said Mr. Hadley’s companion had reported that he was having financial difficulties. The composer John Harbison described him as depressed, although he said he had not recently had extensive contact with Mr. Hadley. Mr. Hadley created the title role in Mr. Harbison’s “Great Gatsby” at the Metropolitan Opera in 1999, and performances in the role in May 2002 were his last at the Met, where he made his debut in 1987. “He came across, obviously, as a very upbeat character,” Mr. Harbison said, “but you could always tell, in his singing, that there was a lot of complexity to his personality.” In May 2006, Mr. Hadley was arrested on drunken-driving charges while sitting in a parked car on Riverside Drive in Manhattan, but prosecutors later dropped the case. Mr. Hadley, who grew up on a 600-acre farm near Princeton, Ill., began his career in 1976 at the Lake George Opera. In 1978, Beverly Sills heard him at auditions of the National Opera Institute and immediately offered him a contract at the New York City Opera. Three years later, a performance at a Kennedy Center gala led to debuts at the Glyndebourne Festival and the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. His career took off. He was soon singing at the world’s major opera houses, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Salzburg Festival, the Hamburg State Opera, the Bastille Opera in Paris and the German State Opera in Berlin. At the Met, he sang the leading tenor roles in “The Rake’s Progress,” “CosÃƒƒƒÃƒ‚Ã‚Â¬ Fan Tutte,” “L’Elisir d’Amore,” “La Traviata” and “Die ZauberflÃƒƒƒÃƒ‚Ã‚Â¶te,” among others. Mr. Hadley was also at home singing musical theater and popular songs and won three Grammy Awards. Correction: July 13, 2007 An article yesterday about the opera singer Jerry Hadley, who was gravely wounded on Tuesday by what the police said was a self-inflicted air-rifle shot to the head, misidentified the opera that includes the role of Captain Vere, one Mr. Hadley was said to be considering in an effort to revive his career. It is “Billy Budd,” not “Peter Grimes.”

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