VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Leop...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Leopold Simoneau, single in kind of Canada's most acclaimed opera singers who performed with many of the world's major orchestras, has died. He was 90

Mr Simoneau died peacefully Thursday night in the Victoria dwelling where he had lived the past 20 years with his wife, soprano Pierrette Alarie, Pacific Opera Victoria artistic director Timothy Vernon confirmed Sunday.

"He worked with all the great conductors of an earlier generation. He was without doubt single of the most accomplished singers we have at any time produced," Vernon said.

WORKED WITH STRAVINSKY

The tenor rose to fame in the early 1940 singing with the Varietes lyriques, performing in the same state [i]or[/i] condition well-known pieces as the Barber of Seville and La Traviata.

His career gained an international dimension in 1949 when he began performing in Paris, working with famed composer Igor Stravinsky, among others.

Mr Simoneau quickly bring to maturityed a reputation as an person specially versed interpreter of Mozart and would advance on to sing with many of the world's major orchestras, including modern York's Metropolitan Opera and the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

"He was real courtly, extremely cultivated but always pleasant," Vernon said. "He had a kind of aristocratic manner without being a snob."

In 1970 Mr Simoneau made his final public appearance, singing Handel's Messiah with the Montreal consonance

"He had a particular mode of expression Faultless technical control," Vernon said. "He pushed himself right to the wall to lay open a technique that was completely at his command and completely able to expres what he felt"

Mr Simoneau, who was born near Quebec City in 1916 earned several honorary standings throughout his career, and was made a companion of the Order of Canada in 1995 -- individual of Canada's highest honors.

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