 In 1881 he set up in legal practice for himself and continued this work for three years, until he accepted an offer to join the American Opera Company, singing for them several times in the western United States.Travelling to Europe in May 1886, Oudin met fellow New Yorker Lady Randolph Churchill in London, who set him up as a salon singer, during which period he appeared before British aristocracy, including The Prince of Wales.Oudin made his operatic stage debut in New York as Montosol in "Josephine Sold by Her Sisters" at Wallack's Theatre in August 1886 under the direction of John A. McCaull who brought Oudin over from Great Britain to appear with his McCaull Comic Opera Company.