Mr Kidd (21) is believed to be the first University of Otago undergraduate to be offered an audition with the company, known as the Met, which is the largest classical music organisation in North America.
"If you were to compare it with anything, it would be like auditioning for the All Blacks, but maybe bigger. New York is the dream city I've always wanted to go to," he said.
His parents, who live in Australia, surprised him by applying for the audition on his behalf.
They sent away a DVD of Mr Kidd performing earlier this year as the understudy for Figaro in the Dunedin production of Mozart opera The Marriage of Figaro.
Mr Kidd said he heard about his successful application two weeks ago and could hardly believe it.
His parents had encouraged him to apply for the Met but he did not want to rush the process.
"It's the biggest thing in the world," he said.
Mr Kidd planned to leave Dunedin on December 3 for his December 11 audition in New York and return to New Zealand after spending Christmas with family in Australia.
His audition choices included Mozart and Donizetti.
The Metropolitan Opera House has a 3800-seat theatre, where as many as seven performances of four different works are staged each week. It produces about 27 operas each season from September to May. Its company includes a symphony-sized orchestra, chorus, children's choir, ballet company and many solo singers.
Its budget for the 2011-12 season was $US325 million ($NZ397 million).
Mr Kidd, in his third year of a music degree, said he would return to Otago as an honours student if not given a job in New York.
