John O’Neill is a native of Upstate New York and a graduate of Ithaca College and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied theory, orchestration, and composition with Warren Benson, Bernard Rogers, Kent Kennan, and Wayne Barlow. John taught music at the elementary, secondary, and college levels for 35 years, and conducted community and semiprofessional orchestras in New York State and the San Francisco Bay Area.

More recently, John has been guest conductor of the Reno Philharmonic.