Benjamin Britten

His Shakespeare opera A Midsummer Night's Dream followed in 1960. The Concert Hall was destroyed by fire in 1969 but Britten was determined that it would be rebuilt in time for the following year’s Festival which it duly was. Later life honours and death
Having previously declined a knighthood Britten accepted a life peerage – the first composer to have been so honoured – on 2 July 1976 as Baron Britten of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk.

Born in Suffolk the son of a dentist Britten showed talent from an early age. He was a central figure of twentieth-century British classical music and wrote music in many genres from film scores to opera.