Henry Kimball Hadley (Dec. 20, 1871 - Sept. 6, 1937) was an American violinist, composer and conductor, born in to a musical family in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Hadley began taking lessons on the violin and piano as a young child with his father, a secondary school music teacher. His mother was involved in church music, and his brother Arthur was a cellist. At fourteen years old, Hadley began studying composition with George Whitefield Chadwick, and later on in 1894 he went to Vienna to study with Eusebius Mandyczewski. He was fond of living in Vienna, where he was able to attend many concerts, and meet other musicians and conductors.

Hadley returned to the United States after two years, and took up a teaching position in New York until 1902, and during that time he composed a great deal. Two year after that he decided to hone his skills in conducting and composing further, and went to Munich to study with Ludwig Thuille. Hadley would go on to conduct a performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, and was an assistant conductor at the Opera House in Mainz beginning in 1907. In 1908 he returned to the United States to become the conductor of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and then in 1911, conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. His conducting resume continued to grow  through his life, where he eventually conducted the New York Philharmonic, Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires, and the New Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo.

Along with his prolific conducting engagements, Hadley had many compositions to his name, of various genres, including symphonies, cantatas, string quartets, and piano trios. Othello Overture was written in 1919, and premiered the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. The work begins with a menacing, dark line in the cellos and basses, before low brass come in with their own dark line. There's a hint of Tchaikovsky throughout the work, which is unsurprising, as he was an admirer of Tchaikovsky, having heard his Sixth Symphony live in Vienna. As the piece grows and develops, the horns belt out a powerful and gripping melody with violins underneath, before giving way to a sweet, calm section where the oboe plays an important part. The drama returns though, in this thoroughly romantic style work, tumultuous and moving, but the piece ends quietly and sweetly at the end.

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BBC Concert Orchestra