Jerry Hadley MARIA DI ROHAN with Opera Orchestra of Los Angeles, Gualtiero Negrini - conductor

This is from the JERRY HADLEY GALA in 1994 and Jerry is in glorious form. I remember him telling me as we walked offstage after the first half - "I haven't sung like that in five years". Indeed, he sounded exactly the way he sounded when we performed Lucia in Tulsa ten years earlier, and shortly after in the Merry Widow in Chicago. When I asked him what was different that night, he said that for some reason he felt safe to unleash the whole voice that the powers that be in many opera houses were trying to suppress in him. He continued, saying that they wanted to keep him in a small box called the "the young American tenor" and it was suffocating him. He added, "Look, I'm half Sicilian but they don't want to hear that side of my voice". Yet, the interesting thing is that while he did exhibit quite a bit of power that evening - no mics, and this camera was in the middle of the hall to the side with a zoom - in the other 18 pieces he sang subsequently (and 3 encores) he employed beautiful pianos, crescendos, diminuendos...all that could be asked of the music. I was very priviledged to have been supporting him that night and hope to upload the rest of this great, but bittersweet memory soon. He often comes up when I'm teaching lessons and I warn young singers that they must find a way of feeling centered and loved without this career - only then can they truly enjoy it. I wish the opera world had been kinder to this wonderful man and artist. After everything he had given, and it was A LOT, when he went through a rough patch they turned their backs on him. It's true, everyone knows it, and it should be said. God bless you, Jer.