Ardoin, John, 1935-2001

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John Louis Ardoin was born on January 8, 1935 in Alexandria, Louisiana, to Louis and Ruth Herren Ardoin, and his family moved to Port Arthur, Texas, when he was three years old. Radio programs cultivated his early interest in opera, and he initially enrolled at what is now the University of North Texas before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin. Ardoin earned a Bachelor of Arts in music theory from UT Austin, a Master of Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma, and did postgraduate work at Michigan State University. Army service in Stuttgart provided him with opportunities to see live performances of top European opera artists, including soprana Martha Mödl. Ardoin lived and worked in New York City for seven years after completing his military service. According to the Handbook of Texas Online, "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." He returned to Texas in 1966 to become the music critic at the Dallas Morning News, succeeding John Rosenfield. He also formed a friendship with Maria Callas, and authored multiple books on her life and work, later authoring additional works on conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler and Valery Gergiev. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of North Texas in 1987. He retired from the Dallas Morning News in 1998, and relocated to Costa Rica. Ardoin died on March 18, 2001, in San José, Costa Rica.
Relation Name
associatedWith Callas, Maria person
associatedWith Cronkite, Walter, 1916-2009 person
associatedWith Dallas Morning News corporateBody
associatedWith Dallas opera corporateBody
associatedWith Davis, Ivan. person
associatedWith Gergiev, Valeriĭ, 1953- person
associatedWith Great Performances. corporateBody
associatedWith Mcnally, Terrence person
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Michigan State university corporateBody
associatedWith Musical America corporateBody
associatedWith Public Broadcasting Service (U.S.) corporateBody
associatedWith Rescigno, Nicola person
associatedWith Saturday Review corporateBody
associatedWith Sills, Beverly person
associatedWith Times of London corporateBody
memberOf United States. Army corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf University of North Texas. corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf University of Oklahoma. corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf University of Texas at Austin. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Port Arthur TX US
Alexandria LA US
San José 08 CR
Denton TX US
New York City NY US
Norman OK US
Austin TX US
San José 08 CR
Subject
Music
Music critics
Opera
Occupation
Author
Music Critic
Activity

Person

Birth 1935-01-08

Death 2001-03-18

Male

Americans

English

Information

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