Showstopper Hadleigh 'I OWE IT ALL TO MY MUM!'

The baritone's back home to wow audiences and his biggest cheerleader

- Rebekah Hebenton

Some people spend a lifetime searching for their passion, but when opera singer Hadleigh Adams heard Puccini's famous aria Vissi d'arte at the age of 10, he knew he'd found his calling.

His talent's taken him around the world, but it's fitting that it's Puccini who has brought him back home to perform on New Zealand stages for the first time in more than a decade.

“I've sung all over the world, but being invited back for this feels like I've made it,” says Hadleigh, who's starring in NZ Opera's tour of La Bohème. “I'm very grateful.”

Equally thrilled by his brief return is his beloved mum, Cheryll, 72, who flew from her home in Palmerston North to join Hadleigh, 40, for the Weekly's photoshoot in Auckland.

The few months he's spending here marks the longest period he has been in Aotearoa since moving overseas to study at 25.

Though she misses having her son nearby, Cheryll admits she always knew he would move away – his musical ambitions and talent were too great to be confined to our shores.

“From preschool, I knew he was going to be in the arts somewhere,” says the former nurse. “I just wasn't sure if it was going to be playing an instrument, conducting or opera.”