[1] The music critic of The Dallas Morning News for thirty-two years, he was particularly known for his friendship with the opera soprano Maria Callas, about whom Ardoin wrote four books.
[1] As a child of twelve, he became interested in listening to the Saturday Met broadcasts and also heard and saw many singers of the day on The Voice of Firestone, and The Bell Telephone Hour.
During his army service spent in Stuttgart, (Germany), Ardoin had several important operatic experiences, not the least of which was a Ring cycle and a later Tristan und Isolde with the soprano Martha Mödl who "knocked me for a loop.
He was editor of Musical America magazine, managing editor of the program books for Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) at Lincoln Center, a writer for the Saturday Review of Literature, as well as New York critic for The Times of London and Opera.
Frequently, Ardoin was a commentator on the Metropolitan Opera's weekly radio broadcasts and was a consultant to the PBS Great Performances series for twenty years.