Morre o tenor Jerry Hadley

Jerry Hadley, Operatic Tenor, Is Dead at 55

Published: July 18, 2007

The American operatic tenor Jerry Hadley, noted for his bright lyric voice, lively acting and adventurous choice of repertory, died today in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He was 55.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Jerry Hadley as Jay Gatsby and Dawn Upshaw as Daisy Buchanan in the Metropolitan Opera production of "The Great Gatsby" in 2002.

Related

Video Clips of Jerry Hadley in Performance

'Il lamento di Federico' from 'L'Arlesiana'

'It Must Be So' from 'Candide'

With Diana Soviero in 'La Traviata'

His death was announced by Celia P. Novo, a longtime family friend. He had been on life support at a Poughkeepsie hospital since July 10, when he shot himself in the head with an air rifle, causing severe brain damage, at a house in Clinton Corners, N.Y., near Poughkeepsie, where he lived with a female companion, the New York state police said.

Friends and colleagues said Mr. Hadley had suffered from severe depression and had had financial difficulties, troubled personal relationships and professional setbacks.

His death ends a career that in the 1980s seemed one of the most promising in American opera. Mr. Hadley made his professional debut in 1976 in a Lake George Opera production of Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte.” Two years later he was heard by Beverly Sills, who was in line to take charge of the New York City Opera. She immediately offered him a contract, and he made his City Opera debut the next year.