Obituaries : Baritone John Reardon, 58; Music Career Spanned 30 Years

John Reardon, a baritone whose star shimmered over but never fully illuminated the firmaments of opera, concert and musical comedy during a career of more than 30 years, died Saturday at his home in Santa Fe, N.M., of pneumonia at the age of 58, it was announced Monday.

A spokesman described Reardon’s last illness as “sudden and brief.” He had recently completed national tours of “Man of La Mancha” and “Kiss Me Kate” with Opera Carolina.

Reardon was noted for a firmly placed, artistically produced lyric baritone voice and he had created roles in the American premieres of many operas, notably at the Santa Fe Opera.

He had an opera repertoire of more than 100 roles and had sung with companies in virtually every major American city, including the Metropolitan and New York City Opera and the Washington, Boston, San Francisco and Dallas operas as well as at the Paris Opera and La Fenice in Venice.

But his easygoing temperament and his willingness to perform in long-running musical comedies made him a journeyman stylist rather than a matinee idol.

New York Debut

The New York-born singer made his operatic debut with the New York City Opera in 1954, two years after graduation from Rollins College in Florida, as Falke in “Die Fledermaus.” He made his Broadway debut the same year, in Gian-Carlo Menotti’s “The Saint of Bleecker Street,” followed by “Kismet” and “Do Re Mi.” He was also active in television and was a principal on the “Opera for Children” series on CBS.

Reardon made his debut at the Met in 1965 as Tomsky in “The Queen of Spades” and sang a wide variety of roles there for 11 seasons. Igor Stravinsky chose Reardon to sing Nick Shadow in the recording he conducted of his opera “The Rake’s Progress.” Other roles that won him acclaim were Iago in “Otello,” Scarpia in “Tosca,” Pelleas in “Pelleas and Melisande,” Escamillo in “Carmen,” Marcello in “La Boheme” and the title role in “Don Giovanni.”

Reardon is survived by a sister.